HISTORY 



—OF- 



St. Patrick's Church, 



CARLISLE, PENNSYLVANIA. 



-by- 
REV. H. G. Ganss, Doc. Mus. 



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PHILADELPHIA : 
D. J. GAI<IvAGHKR & Co. 
1895. 



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HISTORY OF ST. PATRICK'S CHURCH, 

CARLISLE, PENNSYLVANIA. 



BY REV. H. G. GANSS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

The divine commission, c c Go teach all nations" has been 
one to which the Catholic Chnrch has ever been true and 
faithful : one woven like a tissue of gold in her nineteen- 
centuried history ; one inseparably connected with the 
divinity of her organization and existence. After the 
pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit, she entered 
upon her stupendous mission with marks and prerogatives 
in which the whole human family from the uncultured 
Lombard and Goth to the erudite Greek and Roman, dis- 
cerned the presence of gifts which belong to the super- 
natural order and of graces which connect her by an almost 
visible bond with the unseen world. These gifts and 
graces, as history records, have been her inheritance, not 
only in apostolic ages, but are poured out as lavishly in 
our own generation as in any that preceded it. It is by 
this token, and not by numerical success, that we recog- 
nize the apostolic commission. 



St. Paul's mission was the same when pursued and 
stoned by the mob at Lystra, as when his disciples 
embraced and kissed him "sorrowing that they should see 
his face no more." 

The Church never changes, is the complaint of her 
adversaries. They might with the same truthfulness say 
that her apostles and missionaries likewise never change, 
from St. Stephen and St. Paul to the sainted successors 
whose careers may be touched upon in these pages. 

The missionary spirit is the outgrowth of Christianity ; 
the missionary the lineal descendant of the apostle. In 
reading profane history we never encounter that yearning 
desire, unswerving zeal, tireless energy, not to mention 
the spirit of total self-abandonment and absorption of 
every personal motive, to bring men to a higher sphere of 
morality or spirituality. To save one soul the missionary 
cheerfully makes the sacrifice. The ancient philosophers, 
no matter how enthusiastic in the advocacy of their 
doctrines, never left the pleasant haunts of Academus or 
the alluring pleasures of Athens, under the guidance of a 
humane, sublime impulse to instruct the ignorant, console 
the sorrowing, ameliorate the wretchedness of the 
oppressed, lift up the downtrodden, or sow the seeds of 
peace and tranquility among hostile nations. 

This has been the divinely appointed mission of the 
Church — a mission in which she has been always faithful, 
nor has ever faltered. Her ambassadors paled before no 



obstacle, shrank from no danger, were disheartened by no 
failure. — " Neither oceans nor tempests, neither the ices 
of the pole nor the heat of the tropics can damp their zeal," 
says Chateaubriand. They live with the Esquimaux in his 
seal-skin cabin : they subsist on train-oil with the Green- 
lander : they traverse the solitude with the Tartar or the 
Iroquois : they mount the dromedary of the Arab or 
accompany the wandering Caflir in his burning deserts, 
* * * * Not an island, not a rock in the ocean, has 
escaped their zeal ; and as of old, the kingdoms of the 
earth were inadequate to the ambition of Alexander, so 
the globe is too contracted for their charity. n * 

With the first settlement of this newly discovered 
country, actuated by the dream of wealth or the excite- 
ment of adventure, in search of social advancement or in 
pursuit of political ambition, fleeing from religious perse- 
cution or fugitives from political tyranny, naturally a 
heterogeneous element crowded our shores, f Cut from 
the secure moorings of godly homes, untouched by 
religious influences, unhampered by legal restraints, 
amidst environments calculated to sound the manhood and 
search the faith of the strongest — many souls were swerv- 



* Chateaubriand— Genius of Christianity, Book IV, p. 557. 

f "Tyranny and injustice peopled America with men nurtured in suffering and 
adversity. The history of our colonization is the history of the crimes of Europe."— 
Bancroft, VII, 14. (Throughout this Paper the Boston (1879) edition of Bancroft's 
Work) has been used. 



ing in their loyalty, wandering in a state of religious 
despondency, infected with the incipient stages of indiffer- 
entism, that would finally culminate in unbelief and 
apostasy. Nor is this to be wondered at, taking in view 
the well-nigh insurmountable obstacles that awaited the 
"papist," the barriers both legal and social that handi- 
capped his material prosperity, and the blandishments 
and inducements held out by worldly considerations that 
tried his soul. 

To the ministers of the true Faith, this sight aroused 
anxiety and caused alarm. They turned their eyes to the 
distant shores, saw the soul in peril on account of the lack 
of spiritual sustenance, saw many unable to cope with the 
temptations held out on the verge of apostasy, saw others 
with their dying lips pray for the sweet consolations of 
Holy Church which came not. The missionary spirit at 
once grasped the situation ; its agents were true to their 
holy vocations and apostolic traditions. They came fired 
with burning zeal. Though they had to encounter cruel 
and superstitious peoples ; had to enter into the midst of 
barbarism and savagery ; had to run counter to the preju- 
dices of jealous nationality and fierce bigotry ; though they 
had to penetrate trackless forests, wade through mephitic 
swamps, cross foaming torrents, ford treacherous rivers, 
climb inaccessible mountains, face griping hunger and 
parching thirst, — benumbing cold and exhausting heat, — 
they came full of sweetness and charity. In face of all, 



we find them ever dauntless, hopeful, patient and perse- 
vering, — with the crucifix in their hands, and the image 
of the Crucified in their hearts. 

In the annals of early American history, surely the 
missionary will be awarded a high niche. His conquests 
though unseen were none the less factors in the develop- 
ment, peace and prosperity of the country. Or is not he 
whose life is spent in the recesses of the forest, who per- 
forms works of the loftiest heroism without applause, dies 
a painful death without a spectator, is consigned to his 
grave without a tear, and lies buried without an epitaph, 
his name even not in the ken of mankind, — all to procure 
eternal happiness to some unknown savage, — does not 
such a one point out to us the loftiest type of humanity 
which we are able to conceive ? 

" The salvation of one soul is worth more than the con- 
quest of an empire," says the heroic Ghamplain. It was 
the keynote of missionary toil, prayers and martyrdom, 
and though undertaken by foreign priests having fre- 
quently but a most imperfect idea of the language and 
customs of the people whose hardships they shared, and 
from a human standpoint of calculation, totally unfitted 
for the work before them, in the Providence of God they 
brought about the most brilliant achievements, and laid 
the foundation deep and strong, of that spiritual edifice 
which now challenges the admiration of the nation. 
Alone and unaided they had to scale an almost immovable 



8 

breastwork of opposition under a galling fire of invective, 
calumny and persecution. How they fulfilled their mis- 
sion, how they accomplished their task, and the abiding 
and permanent result of some of their labors, can be 
gleaned from the few fragmentary and discursive pages 
that follow. 

CHAPTER I. 

STATUS OF CATHOLICS IN COLONIAL TIMES. — DISABILITIES 
OF EARLY CATHOLIC SETTLERS. 

One of the most perplexing problems that confronts the 
cursory reader of Catholic history in colonial times, is the 
doubt, uncertainty and mystery that shrouds the original 
settlers of its creed in this country. The scant data that 
have been preserved and rescued, at times make the per- 
plexity all the more impenetrable, and when the meagre 
traditions are stripped of the glamor of romance and the 
accretions of years, they are found at times lamentably 
defective in historic truthfulness, and afford but the faint- 
est clue to historical research. 

In a measure this may be accounted for by the anoma- 
lous position our co-religionists occupied. Their numerical 
smallness ; the studied secretiveness that frequently sur- 
rounded their movements, was more a matter of necessity 
than choice. Again it may be explained by the poverty 
and helplessness on the one hand, and the covert antagon- 



ism, if not open hostility, on the other, that dogged their 
every footstep. An intolerant bigotry that amounted to 
virtual ostracism kept them from the more populous 
towns ; penal laws that in effect made them disfranchised 
aliens, prevented their acquisition of property or barred 
the way to civic or military preferment ; an ineradicable 
prejudice coupled their name with disloyalty. They are 
denounced as the creatures of a foreign potentate : decried 
as abettors of the French ; branded as the ever helpful 
allies of the marauding and massacring Indian ; watched 
as fomentors of discord, sworn foes of the State. 

The birth of religious toleration was typically and spe- 
cifically the outgrowth of American ideas, and forms one 
of the proud achievements of our national character, as 
well as an absorbing chapter in our history. The univer- 
sal toleration, both civil and religious, which was heralded 
to the four quarters of the globe, and which I^ord Brougham 
declared to be u the noblest innovation of modern times," 
though the exclusive product of American ideas, had all 
the same when closely studied, nothing more than a mere 
factitious existence. In inculcating this heaven-born prin- 
ciple, expediency did not always go hand in hand with 
justice, nor was the law meted out with any pretence to 
equity. Popery and treason were still universally accepted 
as convertible terms. Theorists and philosophers in the 
eighteenth century descanted garrulously and metaphysic- 
ally on religious liberty, and in lurid colors portrayed the 



IO 

evils of intolerance and persecution for conscience' sake, 
but no approach towards such a consummation was ever 
seriously attempted. However, it was reserved for the 
framers of our National Constitution to formulate and 
promulgate the fundamental principle of government, 
that 4 ' every man should be at liberty to worship God ac- 
cording to the dictates of his individual conscience,' 5 and 
that a perpetual divorce between the national government 
and every form of religious establishment should be en- 
forced. America was the first nation to enunciate the two 
laws of civil and religious liberty, the two greatest con- 
tributors to modern civilization, the two most important 
factors in the growth and prosperity of the nation, the 
evangel that made it the home of the oppressed, the 
asylum of the persecuted, the Utopia of poet and philoso- 
pher. Sad, however, is the reflection that in spite of 
vehement protests and diplomatic advocacy, it required 
nearly two centuries to vitalize these humane laws and 
make them embrace in their scope and comprehensiveness 
those for whose amelioration and protection they were 
first enacted. Nominally, religious liberty was permitted 
in a few colonies, but summarily denied in the majority of 
them. In all of them, however, the Catholic was spe- 
cifically excluded from the rights and immunities of full 
citizenship, in so far that he could not hold a civil or mili- 
tary office without committing perjury or apostasy. With 
some qualifications the humane intentions of beneficent 



II 

lawgivers were thwarted and made nugatory, not only by 
local enactments, but by an ineradicable bigotry, which 
even legal claims could not override. What William 
Penn, the most august and imposing figure of colonial 
times, could not succeed in bringing to the minds and 
hearts of the American people, a less devout man but more 
adroit statesman, Thomas Jefferson, finally engrafted on 
the constitution of the country. Could the former have 
brought his conceptions of universal toleration, civil and 
religious, to a successful termination, which, handicapped 
as he was by local obstacles and hereditary prejudices, 
seemed almost impossible, he would literally deserve the 
title of u emancipator," which now an admiring and grate- 
ful posterity can only acclaim him figuratively. 

The evolution of religious toleration, from the vague 
promises held out by pioneers in this country, to its full 
and radiant accomplishment after nearly two centuries of 
strife and opposition, is a story particularly interesting to 
the Catholic. From the settlement of Virginia, in 1609, 
down to the period of the American Revolution, a man's 
full enjoyment or complete abridgement of his civil rights 
was entirely dependent on his ready conformity to the 
established religion dominant in the Province in which he 
lived. The humane enactments of a Lord Baltimore, a 
Roger Williams and a William Penn, on which the most 
fulsome praise is lavished, and which even then made the 
heart of humanity throb in admiration and pride, left no 



12 

trace or vestige on colonial legislation. During the en- 
tire colonial period the Catholic was almost as much an 
alien, disfranchised and scorned, in this boasted land of 
liberty, as he was in his native country, from which he 
fled with a view of escaping the iron hand of persecution 
and eluding the espionage which would tear him from his 
altar and wean his children from the faith of their sainted 
ancestors. As long as he remained in a state of unob- 
served quiescence no attention and opposition was encoun- 
tered, but as soon as he wished to verify the vaunting 
boast that liberty was after all no empty phrase, he was 
confronted by a clamor of protest and resentment that 
taught him the prudential lesson that flight was at times 
the better part of valor. 

During the entire colonial period u we were essentially 
a nation of Protestants * * * * * and took similar 
(European) methods of maintaining and perpetuating our 
Protestantism, excluding those who dissented from it from 
sharing in the government and frankly adopting the 
policy which had prevailed in England from the time of 
Queen Elizabeth."* In other words the obnoxious and 
inhuman penal laws were transplanted to this new country 
and enforced with a pitiless severity, as far as civil prefer- 
ment was concerned, only equalled by that of the 
countries from which the refugees had fled in quest of 
peace and liberty. 

* Stille — Religious Tests in Provincial Pennsylvania , p. 10. 



*3 

In Virginia, where the English Church was established 
by law and sumptuously endowed, all men were obliged 
under severe penalties, vigorously enforced, to have their 
children baptized. Quakers and Catholics were expelled, 
and upon returning the third tfrne were liable to capital 
punishment. In New England no quarter or mercy was 
ever shown to the Catholic. In 1691, a law was enacted 
in Massachusetts abrogating the barbarous brutalities 
perpetrated under the old theocracy, — permitting all 
Christians the exercise of their various beliefs— -excepting, 
of course, Roman Catholics. However, only a Congrega- 
tionalist could be a freeman, whilst all, irrespective of 
church affiliation, had to pay a tax to support the ministry 
of that particular denomination. In Maine, New Hamp- 
shire, and Connecticut the same system of intolerance was 
religiously in vogue, and conformity to the dominant sect 
was the pledge of civil liberty and the stepping stone to 
official life and business emoluments. In New York, 
Catholic priests were not permitted to set foot, and if dis- 
covered were escorted to the state boundary, and only 
surreptitiously, at the peril of their lives, could they bap- 
tize or administer the consolations of holy religion. The 
Catholic, though denied the exercise of his faith, was all 
the same compelled to pay an annual tax toward the 
support of Episcopal rectors, who had charge of the 
legally constituted parishes, — a charge having a mere 
geographical existence at times. In New Jersey, when 



i4 

the colony was under royal authority, in 1702, with much 
parade and display, liberty of conscience was trumpeted 
throughout the land to attract emigrants. Papists and 
Quakers were again specifically excluded. In Maryland* 
the English Church was established in 1696, and its first 
official act was to disfranchise the very Catholics and their 
children who were the first to proclaim religion on these 
shores in 1649. ^ n Carolina an act was passed in 1704, 
requiring all members of the Assembly to partake of the 
sacrament of the Lord's Supper according to the rites of 
the Church of England. Georgia following the 
precedents established, gave religious freedom to all sects 
and denominations — but withheld it from the "Papists." 
Thus we see in all the colonies, he who did not conform 
to the established religion of the colony in which he 
lived, whether it was Episcopalianism or Congregational- 
ism, had his liberties not only curtailed, and his way 

* " The Catholic Proprietaries in Maryland were the first to grant religious tolera- 
tion (1666) and emigrants arrived from every clime ; and the colonial legislature 
extended its sympathies to many nations as well as sects. From France came 
Huguenots, from Germany, from Holland, from Sweden, from Finnland, I believe 
from Piedmont the children of misfortune sought protection under the tolerant 
sceptre of the Roman Catholic, "*— and fifteen years later (1681),— " Roman Catholics 
were disfranchised in the province they had planted."! " On the soil which long 
before I^ocke pleaded for toleration or Penn for religious freedom, a Catholic proprie- 
tary had opened to Protestants, the Catholic inhabitants became the victim of 
Anglican intolerance, Mass might not be said publicly. No Catholic might teach 
the young. If the wayward child of a papist would but become an apostate, the law 
wrested from his parents a share of their property. ***** Such were the methods 
adopted to prevent the growth of popery."J 

* Bancroft, vol. n, p. 4. f Ibid., p. 8. % Ibid., p. 212. 



*5 

barred to civil office or military promotion, but was at the 
same time compelled to support by irksome taxation the 
arbitrary despotism that oppressed him, which was all the 
more galling, cloaked as it was in the garb of religion. 
As for the Catholic, like the negro in slavery days, he had 
no constitutional rights that need be respected. He was 
disfranchised and allowed to eke out an existence more 
from motives of pity than love of justice. He could 
neither vote nor hold office, was compelled to support a 
creed and ministry, both of which he held in abhorrence 
and detestation. He was the sport and victim of the most 
contracted bigotry, which at times assumed the attitude of 
bitter hostility and cruel persecution. 

But was there not a more tolerant and friendly spirit 
manifested in Pennsylvania towards the Catholic and dis- 
senter ? Was not the land of Penn during the provincial 
period heralded throughout the civilized world as the 
classic land of religious liberty, where liberty of con- 
science was the corner-stone of the foundation upon which 
the commonwealth was erected? Was it a vain boast or 
rhetorical bombast when Edmund Burke said c ( All per- 
sons who profess to believe in one God are freely tolerated, 
and those who believe in Jesus Christ, of whatsoever de- 
nomination, are not excluded from employment and 
posts ? " 

It is true that in Pennsylvania an ameliorated and more 
just condition of affairs presents itself. Dissenters and 



i6 

11 Papists " were not burned because they were heretics^ 
nor banished because they were schismatics. It is again 
true, there was no established Church to be supported by 
legal taxation, and the public exercise of religion met 
with a charitable connivance if not tacit toleration. At 
this period the modest St. Joseph's Chapel, in Willing's 
Alley, Philadelphia, was used for Catholic services, and 
there can be no doubt that " it was the only place in the 
original thirteen States where Mass was permitted to be 
publicly celebrated prior to the Revolution." Yet this 
reluctant toleration was permitted more in the nature of a 
favor than granted as<an inalienable right. All prospects 
of the Catholic sharing in the full rights and privileges 
of citizenship were set at naught by one insuperable bar- 
rier — the obnoxious Test Oath. From 1693 to 1775, both 
under the Crown and Proprietaries, no one could hold 
office in Pennsylvania who was not obliged, as an indis- 
pensable condition precedent, to take and subscribe to the 
following oath, which, after swearing allegiance to the 
reigning king or queen, goes on circumstantially to state : 
*****■" We do solemnly promise and declare 
that we from our hearts abhor and detest and denounce as 
impious and heretical that damnable doctrine and position 
that Princes excommunicated or deprived by the Pope or 
any authority of the See of Rome may be deposed or mur- 
dered by their subjects, or any person whatsoever. And 
we do declare, that no foreign prince, person, prelate, 



*7 

state or potentate hath or ought to have any power, juris- 
diction, pre-eminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or spirit- 
ual within the realm of England, or the dominions there- 
unto belonging." 

"And we and each of us do solemnly swear aud sincerely 
profess and testify that in the Sacrament of the Lord's 
Supper there is no transubstantiation of the elements of 
bread and wine into the body &nd blood of Christ at or after 
the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever, and 
that the invocation or adoration of the Virgin Mary, or 
any other Saint, and the sacrifice of the Mass, as they are 
now used in the Church of Rome, are superstitious and 
idolatrous."* 

Of course even the most callous Catholic would shrink 
from such an oath with horror and loathing, and though a 
premium was placed on apostasy and thereby the avenues 
of civil and military advancement flung wide open, — the 
Judas-like sacrilege would never enter his mind. He 
would prefer poverty and obscurity to dignities and 
wealth, if such a blistering sacrilege would be the price 
at which they were to be purchased. Another blot on 
Pennsylvania's fair escutcheon is the fact that only Prot- 
estants were permitted by the Provincial laws to hold 
land for the erection of churches, schools or hospitals, nor 



* Stille— Religious Tests in Provincial Pennsylvania, pp. 29-30. 



i8 

could any foreigner be naturalized unless he was a Prot- 
estant* 

For this anomalous and inconsistent status of Catholics 
Penn was in no way responsible. He was the sworn 
champion of religious liberty, and this in the face of the 
most vehement opposition. Nor did he ever swerve for a 
moment in his advocacy of principles which he must have 
realized would eventually prevail. His intentions were so 
transparently pure that only the blindest bigotry im- 
pugned them. His intuitions, in the line of conduct 
mapped out in pursuit of liberty of conscience, seemed 
visionary and chimerical under the trying circumstances 
in which they were first proclaimed, but his unerring 
faith in the justice and wisdom of his cause must have 
foreshadowed the consummation that in the course of 
time would eventualize. His mild but unshaken faith on 
this subject exposed him to misconception and denuncia- 
tion. He was stigmatized as a Papist, a Jesuit, a pupil of 
St. Omer, an emissary of the Pope. Could Penn have 
pursued his own mapped-out course, untrammeled by 
trans-Atlantic influences, unhampered by the hereditary 
prejudices of his subjects, he would have effectually 
silenced the low mutterings of disaffection stirred up by 
his humane conduct, and lived to see his one sublime 
idea an accomplished fact. 



* Ibid., p. 15. 



*9 

Unhappily in the charter granted to Penn by Charles 
II, which invested him with well nigh plenipotentiary 
powers of government, both civil and ecclesiastical, an 
ambuscade was laid for him in Section VII, by which 
all laws enacted by the Provincial Assembly must receive 
the approval of Privy Council in England, which reserved 
for itself the right of adopting or repealing them for a 
space of five years. 

It was this veto power of the Privy Council in addition 
to the sectarian bias that frustrated the most chivalrous, 
wise and humane effort ever made to give to every man 
the indefeasible right of worshipping God according to the 
dictates of conscience, a tolerance that has since its adop- 
tion been an exhaustless channel of spiritual grace and 
civic virtue and patriotic strength to our country. 

As we intimated above, it was not until 1776 that the 
War of Independence gave us both civil and religious 
liberty, and by some strange irony of fate, the first civil 
office ever held in Pennsylvania, was held by a priest, and 
he a Jesuit, Father Ferdinand Farmer, who by an Act of 
Assembly reorganizing the College of Philadelphia, in 
1779, was appointed a Trustee of the institution, — the Act 
describing him "as the Senior Minister of the Roman . 
Churches in Philadelphia."* 

That the above assertions are borne out by historic 

* Stille— Religious Ttsts in Provincial Pennsylvania, p. 39. 



20 

evidence, we will glean from a few data gathered at 
random to prove that the Catholics in colonial times 
simply could not make the rapid strides in social life, 
business prosperity, civic preferment, military achieve- 
ment, educational advancement, as his more fortunate 
Protestant neighbor, and this owing to adverse circum- 
stances beyond his power of control. 

" He who is known here as a Roman Catholic," says 
Acrelius, l ( is hated as a half-devil, but he who has no 
religion is just as much esteemed for it, as though he 
thereby showed himself quite rational."* 

The pious, humane and tolerant Penn himself was 
coerced by so strong and aggressive a pressure against his 
Catholic subjects, that at least ostensibly to silence the 
rasping clamors of bigots, he was compelled to write to 
James I,ogan, his colonial Governor, July 29, 1708, 
" There is a complaint against your government that you 
suffer public Mass to be said in a scandalous manner, "f 
He subsequently recurs to the same subject: "It has 
become a reproach to me here with the officers of the 
crown, that you have suffered the scandal of Mass to be 
publicly celebrated. ' 'J 

The pious zeal of the holy missionaries in reclaiming 
the Indians from heathenism and savagery to Christianity 

* History of New Sweden, (Penna.), p. 352. 
f Mem. of Hist. Soc. of Penna., vol. II., p. 294. 
% Watson's— vl nnals of Phila. 



21 

and civilization, — an act of heroism, that was accomplished 
by jeopardizing their lives, is attributed to treasonable 
designs, and at once they become objects of suspicion. 
When Father Molyneux was acting as interpreter for the 
Indians of the Six Nations at Lancaster during June and 
July, 1744, the following accusation is at once formulated 
and circulated. "It is certain that at the time of our 
treaty with the Indians of ye Six Nations at Lancaster, 
Father Molyneux, ye principal of our Jesuits, was with 
them and there is grave reason to suspect that he went 
there for no other reason than to dissuade ye Indians from 
making peace with us. n On his return to Maryland he 
was arrested, only to be honorably discharged with these 
grudging words of rehabilitation, "The council called 
Mr. Molyneux before them and after having examined 
him privately, discharged him without any public mark 
of resentment. n * 

The first Catholic we encounter in Cumberland County 
is under the ban. Governor Sharpe, of Maryland, in his 
communications with Governor Hamilton, of Pennsyl- 
vania, as early as 1750, speaks of a Mr. Campbell, who 
lived in Shippensburg, as a dangerous man, being " a 
Roman Catholic, and on that account likely to sympa- 
thize with the French.' ' Though Governor Hamilton 
replies that "there is one Francis Campbell who was said 

* Maryland Memorial to the Earl of Halifax. 



22 

to have been bred for the church among Roman Catholics, 
but he has the character of an honest, inoffensive man, 
and it is not likely that he concerns himself with the 
French."* All the same, Francis Campbell was an 
attainted man in the eyes of his neighbors, an object of 
espionage and suspicion. 

In 1754 a society was established in Philadelphia, called 
the German Society, by such patriots and sober minded 
citizens as Dr. Franklin, Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg, patriarch 
of the Lutheran Church in this country, and the Rev. Dr. 
Smith, provost of the College, with the sole object in view 
to establish schools for the children of German settlers on 
the frontier of the Province, where they might be taught 
the knowledge of God, and be made loyal subjects of what 
was termed "The Sacred Protestant Throne of Great 
Britain," and thus be saved from u the machinations of 
French and Popish emissaries."t 

In 1754 Dan. Clause warns Governor Morris of Pennsyl- 
vania against a certain man as a very dangerous character 
— " for he was seen making his confession to a priest in 
Canada. "J 

In the following year, 1755, five Justices of the Peace in 
Berks County, sent a most alarming manifesto to the 
Governor of Pennsylvania, asking his immediate inter- 

* Penna. Archives, vol. II, p. 114-115. 

f Stille— Religious Tests in Provincial Pennsylvania, p. 38. 

% Penna. Archives, (Old Series), vol. II, p. 176. 



23 

vention " to enable us by some legal authority to disarm 
or otherwise disable the Papists from doing any injury to 
the other people who are not of their vile principles, * * * 
for in the neighborhood of the chapel (Goshenhoppen) it is 
reported and generally believed that thirty Indians are 
lurking with swords and guns and cutlasses. * * * The 
priests at Reading as well as Cussahoppen [old name of 
Goshenhoppen] last Sunday gave notice that they could 
not come to them again in less than nine weeks, * * * 
whereupon some imagine that they've gone to consult 
with our enemies at Fort Duquesne."* Although the 
Provincial Council tries to disabuse their minds and calm 
their fears — by telling them " that there is very little foun- 
dation for their representation, " — and although the 
Catholics in the entire county only numbered 88, — their 
anxiety was hardly allayed, and the stigma on their 
Catholic brethren certainly not effaced. 

In the same year Governor Morris writes to Governor 
Dinwiddie of Virginia concerning the helpless condition of 
the country in the event of French invasion, that the 
enemy " might be strengthened by the German and Irish 
Catholics w T ho are numerous here. n f The latter is 
evidently alarmed, though the Catholics scattered over the 
vast territory hardly amounted to fifteen hundred, includ- 
ing women and children, — yet he replies reassuringly 

* Col. Records, vol. VI, p. 503-533. f Penna. Archives, vol. II, p. 390. 



24 

that "in the next session they will seriously consider the 
dangers we are in from the German Roman Catholics, and 
make some alteration in your constitution."* 

The alteration came in due time, and placed our Catho- 
lics in a still more embarrassing, not to say distressing, 
situation. It was the celebrated c 'Act for Regulating the 
Militia," passed by the Provincial Council, March 29, 
1757. The Act provides that a census be taken of all 
persons fit for military duty, except " religious societies or 
congregations whose tenets and principles are against 
arms, and all Papists or reputed Papists. " It goes on to 
state that "no Papist or reputed Papist shall be allowed or 
admitted to give his vote or be chosen an officer of the 
militia within any of the districts within these provinces." 
* * * * " Every male Papist or reputed Papist, (on 
account of his exemption from performing military duty) 
between the age of seventeen and fifty-five years — must 

pay the sum of twenty shillings."f 

In the same year — 1755 — an article in an English paper, 
reproduced in an American journal, gives a true and un- 
varnished description of the real status of Catholics in the 
Colonies and the feelings entertained about them. " But I 
carefully observed," the writer goes on to state, " that no 
Roman Catholick in our Colonies, can claim the particu- 
lar privileges, thereby allowed to others ; and indeed no 

* Penna. Archives \ vol. II, p. 423. f Penna. Archives, vol. II, p. 120. 



25 

surer groundwork could be laid for the loss and destruc- 
tion of our Colonies than to encourage the resort of 
Roman Catholicks thither." * 

In 1758 Christian Frederick Post, a Moravian minister, 
in a speech made to the Indians at Logstown on the Ohio, 
thus attacked the " papists " : " My brothers, I know you 
have been wrongly persuaded by many wicked people, for 
you must know there are a great many Papists in the 
country in the French interest, who appear like gentle- 
men and have sent many runaway Irish Papist servants 
among you, who have put bad notions into your heads, and 
strengthened you against your brothers, the English."f 
Even the mind of the Red Man was to be poisoned against 
the Catholic, who at all times was his only friend and 
benefactor. 

Wealth was hardly within reach of the (( papist," unless 
he went to the unbroken frontier. In the cities and larger 
towns it was not to be thought of. In 1769 John Cott- 
ringer and Joseph Cauflfman asked for ( l An act to enable 
them to hold lands in this province." It was summarily 
refused because u the persons mentioned in this bill are 
Roman Catholics." X 

It was not until the convention met in Philadelphia, in 
May, 1787, comprising among its members two Catholic 



* Penna. Gazette, July 17, 1775. 
t The Olden Time, vol. I, p. 116. 
X Col. Records, vol. IX, p. 596. 



26 

patriots, Thomas Fitzsimons, of Philadelphia, and Daniel 
Carroll, of Maryland, that at the suggestion of Charles 
Pinkney, of South Carolina, in the face of clamorous pro- 
tests, the obnoxious religious test oath was abolished, and 
the VI Article of the Constitution adopted, c l that no re- 
ligious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any 
office or public trust" Only after years of forbearing 
patience, petty prosecution and enforced privations, all 
the time exhibiting the most indisputable and pathetic 
evidences of loyalty to the cause of order and freedom, 
was this sacred right common to humanity, secured, re- 
spected and enjoyed. 

In the march of progress and prosperity, however, the 
Catholic was far in the rear. The most productive land 
had already been taken possession of, the remunerative 
offices, civil or military, had long been filled, and from the 
lowest round of the ladder, amid rebuffs, discouragements 
and almost insuperable difficulties, with laborious toil he 
had to climb to success. 

Even now, however, living and breathing the atmos- 
phere of liberty, the priesthood could hardly claim an im- 
munity from persecution. The priest was still a curiosity 
to be watched and feared, no more to be tolerated than 
the small-pox or cholera. In our own Cumberland Valley 
we find this anti-Catholic epidemic raging at times in a 
most violent form, as virulent as it was in 1894. Father 
Farmer was obliged to visit the bedsides of the sick and 



27 

dying in the attire of a Quaker, — and in many instances 
confine his travels to night only. From 1764, when the 
holy Father Schneider was obliged to pay surreptitious 
visits to his scattered flock in the disguise of a peripatetic 
physician, his life at times in peril, to 1795, when Father 
Brosius * was obliged to flee from our neighboring town, 
Chambersburg, pursued by a hooting and infuriated mob, 
and only saved himself from bodily injury by the fleetness 
of his horse, — the brooding spirit of persecution cropped 
out again and again. Nor can we, at the end of the nine- 
teenth century, in the fierce light of modern progress and 
scientific achievement, boast of an ameliorated condition 
of affairs, as far as Carlisle is concerned. 

Thus we see the incentive for Catholics to settle in the 
States, the prospects for bettering their condition, — the 
pleasing hope of civil liberty and the absence of religious 
persecution, were not precisely the most encouraging and 
alluring ; added to this the deprivation of all the consola- 
tions of Holy Church, which only the Catholic can realize 
and feel, we are not surprised that in spite of the enticing 
placards posted conspicuously in villages and towns of the 
European Continent f to inveigle Irish and Germans to 
hasten to the new Eldorado, they failed to come in great 
numbers until the War of Independence. 

* Life of Gallitzin, by Brownson, p. 99-100. 
f Eine Reise dutch einige der mittleren und sudlichen ver. Staaten, Dr. Schopf, p. 90, 
Schlozer's Briefwechsel^ II, No. 40. 



28 

Then suddenly the Catholics sprang into prominence, 
and the gallant and invaluable services rendered by a 
Lafayette, Kosciusko, du Portal, Pulaski, du Coudray, 
among the French, a Colonel Moylan, Captain Jack Barry 
— " Father of the American Navy," Colonel Doyle, Capt. 
Michael McGuire, among the Irish, and the rank and file 
of sturdy soldiers among the Germans, are emblazoned in 
the history of the country and treasured in the hearts, of 
all patriots. 

CHAPTER II. 

CUMBERLAND COUNTY. — HISTORY OF THE COUNTY. — 
CARLISLE. — FIRST SETTLERS. 

Cumberland County was the sixth in chronological 
order erected in the Province of Pennsylvania, and was in 
territorial extent the largest. The three original counties 
of Philadelphia, Berks and Chester, having been estab- 
lished in 1682, Lancaster in 1729, and York in 1749. 
Cumberland was separated from Lancaster by the action 
of Governor James Hamilton, as will be seen from the 
provision of the Assembly, Jan. 27, 1750 : u That all and 
singular lands lying within the Province of Pennsylvania, 
to the westward of the Susquehanna, and northward and 
westward of York, be erected into a County to be called 
Cumberland.' 5 Its southern limit was the dividing line 
between Maryland and Pennsylvania. 



29 

This geographical apportionment gave the county more 
than two-thirds of the Province. Until the formation of 
the adjoining counties of Bedford in 1771, Northumber- 
land in 1772, Mifflin in 1789, Franklin in 1784, and Perry 
in 1820, its history is that of the whole western half of the 
Province of Pennsylvania. 

The prominent and important part it occupies in 
colonial history ; the thrilling scenes enacted here during 
the Indian wars ; the patriotic share it took in the War of 
Independence is a matter of history, and is not our prov- 
ince to enter upon. Suffice it to say that at one time, 
especially during the Valley Forge campaign, it was a 
pivotal factor in the War of Independence. 

The natural beauties of the Cumberland Valley, the 
fertility of the soil, the vast woodlands, the abundant 
streams, the ever-varying scenery, especially the summer 
and autumnal splendors, have been enjoyed by genera- 
tions and elicited rhapsodical pictures from the mind of 
the poet, while even the cursory observer could not fail to 
be charmed. Encircled by the great Appalachian moun- 
tains, which skirt it like a natural fortification from the 
Susquehanna to its extreme southern boundary, it has, 
not inaptly, been compared to the sunny vale of Rasselas. 
In prehistoric times it was the battleground of the warlike 
Iroquois and Algonquin, celebrated in Indian legend and 
story. Later the adventurous and exploring white man 
entered the territory to inquire into its resources for trade. 



3° 

In the Indian and Revolntionary wars it was the centre 
whence issued successful expeditions for the extermina- 
tion of the one enemy and conquest of the other. 

Carlisle, the county seat, named after the town of Car- 
lisle in England, is situated eighteen miles west of Harris- 
burg, one hundred and eighteen from Philadelphia, and 
one hundred and seventy-eight from Pittsburgh. Its loca- 
tion is most admirable and picturesque, nestling as it does 
in the very heart of the beautiful valley. The site of the 
town was selected " because the place is convenient to the 
new path to Allegheny, now mostly used, being at a dis- 
tance of four miles from the gap (Croghans) in the Kit- 
tochtiny (Blue) Mountains. * * * * the lands on both 
sides of the Conodoguinet are thickly settled. As the 
lands are settled it should be thought a proper situation 
for the town." In compliance with this petition Gov. 
James Hamilton sent a letter of instruction to Nicholas 
Scully, Surveyor General of the Province, to lay out the 
town. The letter is dated April ist, 1751. 

FIRST SETTLERS. 

The first settlements made west of the Susquehanna 
were in the limits of what now constitutes York County, 
by Germans, about 1725. They were shortly followed by 
the Irish. The influx of German emigrants was so great 
even then as to arouse considerable alarm lest eventually 
the colony would endanger the interests, if not the exist- 



3 1 

ence, of the English speaking colonists. The relations be- 
tween the two nationalities were never friendly, and in 
time became more strained. The stubborn pertinacity 
and phlegmatic cynicism of the one, the exasperating wit 
and innate pugnacity of the other, produced at best an 
armed neutrality, interrupted by occasional collisions and 
outbreaks that necessitated vigorous governmental inter- 
position. Nor did these racial animosities abate in time 
nor grow less in acrimony. The attitude of the Germans 
and Irish continued so belligerent that an enforced separa- 
tion was imperatively demanded and brought about by 
confining the former to York and the latter to Cumberland 
County. The racial amalgamation seemed impossible, 
and in 1750 the Proprietaries "in consequence of the fre- 
quent disturbances between the Germans and the Irish, 
gave orders to their agents to sell no lands in either York 
or Lancaster Counties to the Irish, and also to make ad- 
vantageous offers of removal to the Irish settlers * * * * 
to Cumberland County, which offers being liberal were 
accepted by many. " * Both submitted to law only when 
its majesty was invoked. In the meanwhile all seemed to 
live in an exciting time of "luxurious outlawry." 

Many, if not the majority of these settlers came with 
roseate prospects and attenuated purses. Many were in- 
digent to a degree that obliged their indenturing them- 

* Rupp's History of Lancaster County, p. 288. 



3^ 

selves as servants for three or four years ; many could not 
pay the twenty shilling tax imposed on servants and had 
to effect their lauding by stealth. Many again were liter- 
ally inveigled by the most Eldoradean promises of con- 
scienceless agents, who scurried through Germany and 
Ireland and brought the unfortunate victims here only to 
find themselves sold as bondsmen to the highest bidder. 
These poor wretches were called " Redemptioners " ; their 
marketable price was usually ten pounds G^io.) and the 
term of servitude from three to four years. The Rev. G. 
Muhlenburg, speaking of these German " Redemptioners," 
says: u When the Germans arrive here from their ships, 
all who cannot defray the expense of their passage from 
their own means must sell themselves and their families, 
enter a term of service to pay off their passage ; such per- 
sons are called servants. After they paid their passage and 
earned something in addition, they emigrate up the coun- 
try and make purchases."* This passingly as a possible 
solution why we find so many German and Irish " intrud- 
ers" (squatters) on unpurchased Indian lands, and why 
the names of so many Catholics, who, with the exception 
of those in Maryland, were among the poor, cannot be 
found in early records, such as tax lists, etc. 

The early settlers in the Cumberland Valley were the 



* Hallische Nachrichten, p. 54, quoted by Rupp— History of Dauphin and other Coun- 
ties, p. 45. See likewise Schlozer's Brief wechsel, IV. no. 40 ; Reise durch einige der 
mittl. und sudl ver. Staaten. Schopf , (Krlangen, 1788). 



33 

Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. They came in such numbers, 
with such resources and formed such a compact body, 
that their ascendancy to this day, with a few qualifica- 
tions, is as unquestioned and incontestable as it was one 
hundred and fifty years ago. They were a persistent and 
aggressive element, clannish and thrifty, with all the 
native sturdiness of character, not altogether untinctured 
by illiberalism. This more by way of characterization 
than depreciation. For the " papists," small in number 
and of no helpful influence, they had more the feelings of 
secret commiseration than positive ill will. Even this 
inherited tendency of another country and other in- 
fluences, was mellowed and softened in time when Catho- 
lic and Protestant stood shoulder to shoulder to battle 
against English aggression. If sporadic attempts to fan 
the dying embers of religious bigotry were attempted 
from that day to the present moment of writing by a 
ministry contracted in its views and uncharitable in its 
utterances, the outbursts were rendered innocuous by a 
healthy sentiment of justice and fair play among the laity. 
The gutter- smelling harangues of u converted priests v 
and the salacious morsels dealt out by " escaped nuns," 
ecclesiastical ammunition of another time and country, 
evoked nothing but feelings of silent scorn or condign 
denunciation. Even the frantic tirades against Catholic 
loyalty and patriotism find their amplest refutation in the 
forty odd flags annually unfurled on Memorial Day in the 



34 

modest little cemetery adjoining the church. A mute, 
but none the less pathetic spectacle, are the graves of 
these patriots ! 

During the many years of the little St. Patrick's 
church's existence, it all the same owes much to the 
sympathetic, encouraging and helpful bounty of our non- 
Catholic citizens, and the little congregation was never 
chary in making its grateful acknowledgements. 

The tide of emigration was so strong between the years 
1725-1735, and with such avidity was the land taken up 
regardless of the rights of the Indian, and with such 
Cromwellian volubility were the Holy Scriptures quoted 
against the " heathen,'' that the Proprietaries gave Sam- 
uel Blunston a commission as agent, dated January 11, 
1733-34 to grant licenses to the settlers, and to take up 
lands west of the Susquehanna. These licenses were 
mere permits to take up land and cultivate it, with the 
understanding that possession and a clear title should be 
given, when the Indians' claims had been satisfied. 

The Maryland Catholics by this time came up the Sus- 
quehanna ; the incoming vessels poured out streams of 
emigrants. As early as 1730-31 with the Indian still 
dwelling in their midst, and nothing but his trail to guide 
emigrants, they pushed westward ; every available acre of 
arable land is taken ; i ? clearings and burnings ' ' are made, 
and the first settlements formed. The Irish and Scotch 
settlers locate in the Kittochtiny Valley (North Valley), 



35 

Falling Springs and many other places. In 1729 according 
to the Pennsylvania Gazette there arrived in New Castle 
4500 persons chiefly from Ireland ; and at Philadelphia in 
one year 267 servants were sold to serve a term of three or 
four years." 

CHAPTER III. 

EARLY CATHOLIC SETTLERS. — THEIR THRIFT AND 

PATRIOTISM. 

Evidence is at hand that before 1745 a number of Irish 
Catholic families settled, on the Tuscarora Path (Path 
Valley) and formed the nucleus of a settlement still in 
existence, and in which we not only find lineal descend- 
ants of the original settlers, but a community which in 
spite of the vicissitudes of time, the frequent depredations 
of the Indian, the great distance from a church and the 
sadly few visits of priests, the Catholic faith is still found 
as firm and intact as was that of the holy ancestors who 
planted it more than one hundred and fifty years ago. 
This settlement not only was the one that lay further west 
than any hitherto attempted on this side of the Alle- 
ghanies, — but even antedates as far as documentary evi- 
dence goes Conewago. 

Conspicuous among these was Thomas Doyle, who on 
Nov. 29, 1737, took up 530 acres of land, part of which is 
still in possession of some of his lineal descendants. The 
area of land he takes on a Blunston license seems to give 



36 

color to the surmise that he must have been accompanied 
by sufficient hands to partially cultivate it, and since he 
had no neighbors* a settlement of some pretension had evi- 
dently been effected. In the lapse of a few years we en- 
counter the names of Felix Doyle, presumably a relative 
of Thomas, Patrick O'Neill, Shields, McMullen, Logan, 
who ail located there before 1744. 

The Doyle family enjoyed considerable prominence, as 
may be inferred not only from its landed possessions, but 
even more from the conspicuous and patriotic part it sub- 
sequently played in Revolutionary times. The town of 
Doylesburg, Franklin Co. , is named after this family and 
possesses a substantial brick church dedicated to Our 
Blessed Lady, Refuge of Sinners, where Holy Mass is 
offered up monthly, it being a mission attached to Cham- 
bersburg. It scarcely admits of a doubt that this colony 
was the first in what then constituted the extreme West of 
Pennsylvania, f 

In July 2, 1750 Richard Peters reports to Gov. James 
Hamilton, that a number of ' 4 intruders ' ' (squatters) among 

whom was Henry Gass, living on Sherman's Creek (Little 
Juniata) six miles over the Blue Mountain (in the present 
Perry County) had erected log cabins on Indian lands. 
With others he was obliged to give a bond of ^500 that 
c< he would depart and never return," his cabin being first 

* History of Franklin Co.— J. F. Richards. 

f For the above information the writer is indebted to Mr. F. X. Deckelinayer, 
Chambersburg, Pa. 



37 

burnt to the ground. He as well as Benjamin Gass were 
Catholics, and after the dispossession settled in Falling 
Springs. He is presumably the father of Patrick Gass, who 
was born at that place June 12, 1771, and who was one of 
the first white men to make an overland trip to the Pacific, 
a detailed account of which he gave in A Journal of the 
Voyage and Travels of a Corps of Discovery (Pittsburgh, 
1807). See likewise The Life and Times of Patrick Gass. 
Another Catholic pioneer of whom we have information 
is Francis Campbell, of Shippensburg. Gov. Hamilton 
replying to inquiries of Gov. Sharpe of Maryland about one 
Francis Campbell whom he suspects of disloyalty " being 
a Roman Catholic, and on that account likely to sym- 
pathize with the French," allays his fears by replying 
that " there is a Francis Campbell who was said to have 
been bred for the church among the Roman Catholics, but 
he has the character of an honest, inoffensive man, and it 
is not likely that he concerns himself with the French."* 
... Of this Campbell all traces are lost, he must have 
removed from his uncongenial surroundings, where his 
faith was not only a stumbling block in the way of his ma- 
terial prosperity, but exposed him to the petty annoyances 
and wanton espionage of his neighbors, not even escaping 
the surveillance of the chief executive of the Province. The 
other family of Campbells in Shippensburg were then as 
they are now strict adherents of the Presbyterian church. 

* Penna. Archives, Vol. II. pp. 114-5. 



38 

Among the earlier Catholic inhabitants of Carlisle we 
find the Pendergrass family, who no doubt were among the 
pioneer settlers in the borough, and whose name will be 
found identified with almost all the larger settlements 
west of Carlisle. In Kline's Carlisle Gazette* we ascer- 
tain that Philip Pendergrass died Nov. 17, 1797, " in the 
seventy-second year of his age, and was an old inhabitant 
of this borough." This Philip Pendergrass is no doubt 
the same, whose name is found on the list of Taxablesf in 
1762, and who again took part in the expedition to Kit- 
tanningj in 1756, to repulse the Indians, whose bloody 
massacres at this time sent a thrill of alarm along the 
entire frontier. It was of this Pendergrass family,— Gar- 
ret Jr., who in Feb. 1770, while a resident of Raystown 
(Bedford) purchased the ground now occupied by Alle- 
ghany City, from the Six Nations. A copy of this quaint 
conveyance is found in Egle's History of Pennsylvania.^ 
This last Pendergrass was no doubt the same alluded 
to in Gov. Hamilton's correspondence with Gov. Sharpe, 
in which he is mentioned as being an innkeeper, thoroughly 
reliable and capable as a guide, and with a most minute 
knowledge of the topography of the country. || 

The old Pendergrass homestead was on Pomfret street, 
near Hanover. The house now occupied by the family, 
opposite the rectory, was built in the last century by 

* Nov. 29, 1797. f Wing—Hist. Cumb. Co , p. 61. % Ibid. p. 54. g p. 366. 

1 Penna. Arch, Vol, II, p. 114. 



39 

another Catholic family named Byrns, who intermarried 
with the Pendergrass's. This home, still in a good state of 
preservation, was built from logs cut and hewn on the 
premises, it being part of a dense piece of woodland. The 
families have both long since drifted away from their an- 
cestral faith, and recall it only as a tradition. One of the 
last members of whom we have any knowledge as dying 
in the faith was Johanna Pendergrass, who departed this 
life July 9, 1823, an ^ attached to whose death notice in the 
Parochial Register we find these touching words : c ' Mor- 
tua est in odore sanctitatis, pie talis et devotionis ; " — u She 
died in the odor of sanctity, piety and devotion." No 
doubt a most deserving eulogy. The name of James 
Pendergrass is found as late as 1843 * n the Parochial 
Records, but no evidence is at hand to prove that he died 
a Catholic. 

The names of John and Charles McManus are found 
contemporaneous with the foregoing. As early as 1762 
John McManus has a place on the list of Taxables.* 
Charles McManus, who died on August 29, 1798, was not 
only one of the oldest, but most progressive and successful 
business men in the community. The large and commo- 
dious home he erected on East Street, which still remains 
as a monument of post-colonial massiveness, spaciousness 
and solidity, with its marble slab conspicuously placed in 
the second story, bearing the date of its erection, 1797, 

* Wing— Nisi. Cumb. Co., p. 62. 



40 

and the name of its builder, gives evidence not only of 
enterprise and wealth, but cultured taste. Originally he 
was proprietor of one of the largest distilleries in the 
county and amassed a sufficient competence to permit him 
to live, if not in luxury, at least in ease and comfort. 
The avocation he followed was not then, as it is now, 
looked upon as debasing and immoral : but then it was 
universally adopted and countenanced as a most lucra- 
tive business. As late as 1835 more than eighty dis- 
tilleries paid taxes in Cumberland County alone and 
manufactured more than a million gallons of whisky an- 
nually. Cumberland County always had a penchant for 
good whisky, and the consumption of ardent spirits was 
always in proportion to the output, if reliance can be 
placed on local tradition. After the death of Mrs. Mary 
McManus (born 1703, died December 15, 1809), at the 
patriarchal age of 103 years, the name becomes less 
prominent, although that of Charles is still found on the 
pew rent list as late as 1823. The descendants drifted to 
Mexico and Philadelphia. The former branch of the 
family in the course of time founded the prosperous and 
famed banking firm of McManus & Co., an institution of 
international reputation and the largest and most promi- 
nent in our sister Republic. The Philadelphia family 
likewise achieved more than ordinary success in life. 

Jeremiah Sullivan and James Costello were two Catholics 
who effected a settlement in Carlisle about 1774, and came 



4i 

with resources and intentions to locate permanently. No 
doubt the excitement and anxiety attending the war made 
Philadelphia and its adjoining towns anything but an in- 
viting place at this period. Cumberland county being on 
the frontier afforded rare opportunities for the acquisition 
of desirable land, which could be purchased for a mere song. 
On March 20, 1775 * they purchased of Charles Queen 
(Quinn) in Rye Township " a certain improvement 
and tract of land claimed by virtue of said improve- 
ment, and situated in the Township aforesaid, bounded 
by land of Samuel Murray, (Little Juniata) a claim 
of Robert Steele and others containing 100 acres, 
more or less." Like the Cerfoumont tract, this was in the 
present Perry County. The Declaration of Independence, 
the success of the Continental Army, no doubt made them 
yearn for the friends they left at Philadelphia, and in a 
short time James Costello's departure was followed by that 
of Sullivan. It appears in the meantime Sullivan had ac- 
quired sole possession of the land. Perhaps knowing the des- 
titution of the Carlisle parish, (it hardly could have escaped 
his attention,) he concluded to leave the land to the church, 
to form the nucleus of a small endowment which in the 
course of time, would perhaps be of benefit to the congrega- 
tion, as well as to its pastor. At all events Sullivan deeded 
this property to Father Pellentzf in fee simple, to 
hold it for the Carlisle Church. The proximity of 

* Rec'd Bk. G s Vol. I, p. 288. f Oct. 24, 1785 



42 

this land to the Cerfoumont tract — only about four miles 
distance, gives weight to the presumption that the former 
was likewise held by Father Pellentz. That the Sullivan 
gift was beneficial to the church and added to its revenues, 
we can learn from the letter of Bishop Carrol to Rev. 
Mr. Debarth.* 

Father Zocchi was the bearer of this letter to Father 
Debarth, and his receipt is still on hand. " Received from 
Rev. Mr. Debarth 120 dollars, for the purpose of providing 
a part of the salary for the attending pastor of the Catholic 
congregation of Carlisle, this day the 1st of December 
1807." , Zocchi, Pastor of Carlisle. 

The land was subsequently sold by Rev. F. X. Brosius 
to Anthony Shattof for ^238 10 s. This occurred 
on April 27,1802. This sum was converted into 
bonds bearing interest and left in the custody of 
George Metzger Esq. of Carlisle. In a letter dated 
25th May 181 1, the latter speaks of some funds collected 
on notes due Rev. Mr. Brosius, and explains that he paid 
various sums to Rev. Mr, Zocchi, understands that the in- 
terest on the money is to go to the support of the officiat- 
ing clergyman of the u The Roman Catholic Congregation 
of Carlisle." He holds at the time $95.00 in hand, also 
judgement-bond $285.03 which he holds for the use of the 
" Roman Catholic Congregation of Carlisle." 

These bonds, as Mr. Metzger receipts show, were given 

* Dated Washington Oct. 7, 1807. f Chateau, Rec'd. Bk. I. Q. p. I03. 



43 

to Bishop Carrol. Among the attorneys papers we find: 
" Received from Rev. Mr. Marshall three bonds from An- 
thony and Michael Shatto to the Rev. F. X. Brosius, and 
by him assigned to the Right Rev. Dr. Carrol. Each bond 
bearing date 27 April, 1802 and conditioned for the pay- 
ment of ,£21, each on the first day of April 1810, 1811, 

1812." 

Geo. Metzgkr, Atfy at Law. 

How long the revenues went to the church cannot be as- 
certained. And since there appeared to be some difficulty 
about the title, and perhaps the trustees being more than 
ordinarily, if not officiously solicitous, Sullivan who had 
long since left for Philadelphia, made out an af- 
fidavit, dated Philadelphia, Jan. 7, 1817.* 

With this, ail traces of the bequest are lost, and though 
careful search has been instituted, no information could be 
obtained. 

The Jeremiah Sullivan here alluded to is no doubt the 

*" The undersigned Jeremiah Sullivan does hereby certify, that the tract of land in 
Rye Township, Cumberland Co., Pa* was given by him aud his partner James Costello 
towards the support of the Rev. Pastor attending the Roman Catholic Congre- 
gation of Carlisle and by no means to be at the disposal of any trustee or layman of 
said Congregation. The above tract having been sold by Rev. Mr. Brosius successor 
and heir to the Rev. M. Pellentz, the money resulting from the sale of said plantation 
ought to be laid out for the same purpose above specified in the manner the successor 
of the Rev. Brosius at Conewago Church thinks is most to the advantage of the Rev. 
Father of Carlisle." 

Jeremiah Sullivan. 
Acknowledged by J. S. before Alderman, 

John Geyer, Philadelphia. 



44 

one whose name occurs so frequently in the annals of St. 
Mary's Church, Philadelphia (Records of the A, C. H. 
Society, p. 264, etc.), whilst James Costello is identically 
the same who in 1793 bequeathed all his property, with 
the exception of a few private bequests to St. Mary's 
Church, Philadelphia, among other purposes, for the main- 
tenance of a school, to keep a supply of oil for the " lamp 
which burns in the old Chapel in Willing' s Alley" (Rec'd. 
A. C. H. Society, p. 390) etc. 

In chronological order the Faust family comes some- 
what later, but was more prominently and efficiently iden- 
tified with the prosperity and vicissitudes of St. Patrick's 
congregation, for more than fifty years, than probably any 
other single family up to recent times. It was a family 
in which a high order of intelligence was always coupled 
with a fervid piety, an active zeal with an undemonstra- 
tive charity, and a sterling faith with a most exemplary 
conduct. The ideally Catholic life of this family has not 
only been a heritage religiously preserved by its descend- 
ants down to the last bearers of the honored name, but it 
never failed to be a source of edification to their brethren in 
the household of faith, whilst the lofty spirituality was a 
revelation to those outside of the fold. To Jacob Faust, as 
well as John Faller, Sr., who came several decades later, 
the words of St. Clement, the Martyr-Pope, can most ap- 
positely be applied, when he says : * " Who is not struck 

*IEpist. Corinth. 



45 

with beholding your lively faith : your piety full of sweet- 
ness : your generous hospitality : the holiness which 
reigns within your families : the serenity and innocence 
of your conversation ?" The family must have settled here 
shortly after the Revolutionary War, with the Lechlers, 
no doubt related to the Philadelphia and Lancaster fami- 
lies of the same name. Eventually they intermarried 
with the Lechlers, though the Lechlers seemed not to pos- 
sess the vigor and vitality of faith that characterized the 
Fausts, for they gradually strayed from the Church, 
though seldom affiliating with the sects. Valentine Faust, 
a printer, died suddenly and rather mysteriously on April 
17, 181 1. He was a son of John Faust, Sr. John Faust, 
Jr., was married to Miss Eliza Fetter at Harrisburg, No- 
vember 20, 1812.* Jacob Faust, who was so conspicuous a 
factor in the growth and development of the congregation, 
enters upon the scene of church activity about 1820, and 
till his death was one of the great benefactors of the 
church, and one of the most helpful allies in keeping alive 
the faith at a period when priestly visits were of intermit- 
tent occurrence, and urgent pressure was brought to bear 
in weakening the faith of the small congregation. At the 
present there survive three of his children, the Misses 
Mary and Lizzie Faust, Carlisle, and A. J. Faust, A.M., 
Ph.D., of Washington, D. C. 

* Carlisle Gazette, November 26, 1812. 



4 6 

The Schwartz family must likewise be enumerated 
among the pioneer stock. One of the oldest monuments 
in the cemetery, in fact the oldest decipherable, records 
the death (in quaint German) of Nicholas Schwartz, who 
died August 23, 1784, the year in which the log chapel 
was built. The monument is a pretentious one for the 
time in which it was erected, and is not only in a good 
state of preservation, but will last a century or two more, 
unless ruthlessly broken or mutilated. Tradition has it, 
that he was a Hessian officer, captured at the Battle of 
Brandy wine or Trenton, and brought here as a prisoner to 
the barracks. He espoused the cause of the Revolutionary 
party, did active and gallant service in the cause of Inde- 
pendence, and was universally esteemed as a good citizen 
and brave soldier. The name was subsequently angli- 
cized to Black, and figures in the church records as late 
as 1823. 

Michael Dawson must have settled here shortly after 
the Declaration of Independence, and in 1798 was the 
possessor of considerable farming land in what now be- 
longs to Perry county. He attained more than local 
prominence as a builder and contractor and was in good 
circumstances. James Dawson " while employed in erect- 
ing the penitentiary or work house in the gaol-yard, was 
suddenly killed by a falling scaffolding,* June 15, 1815. 

* Carlisle Volunteer, June 22, 18 15. 



47 

Michael Dawson was a candidate about the same time for 
sheriff, but failed to secure the nomination by a piece of 
political jugglery that would have done no little credit to 
the adroit achievements of modern politics. The family 
a few years later moved into Cambria county. Both were 
soldiers in the war of 1812, and the former, as far as 
known, was probably the first soldier buried with military 
honors in our cemetery. 

The absence of all church records covering this period 
precludes all possibility of ascertaining with any degree 
of certainty, the names of other Catholics perhaps 
prominent in their day, who may have settled in Carlisle or 
Cumberland county and who perhaps yielded to none in 
zeal and generosity. Unfortunately until that historical 
treasure trove — the Conewago Baptismal Record, and that 
of its affiliated missions is unearthed, we must content 
ourselves with the fragmentary data and names perpetu- 
ated by the court records and local history. 

In this connection, it would be a most fascinating study 
to trace the vestiges of Catholic missionary labor among 
the original owners of the land — the Indians. It is more 
than an assumption, that the ubiquitous and irrepressible 
Jesuit, whether of Canada or Maryland, had long since not 
only studied Indian customs, but acquired their language, 
and gained many a joyful spiritual conquest long before the 
white man, with the implements of civilization,— oftener 
those of war, drove them from their old haunts. The 



4 8 

kindness with which the French always treated the In- 
dians, the integrity displayed in their petty commercial 
transactions, the respect they entertained for their national 
customs, above all the intense eagerness and loving con- 
descension of the Jesuits in attending their spiritual wel- 
fare, made a lasting impression on the untutored child ot 
the forest There can be little or no doubt, that Canadian 
missionaries at some period or other had visited the In- 
dian settlements, especially those bordering the Susque- 
hanna River, where a number of Catholic Indians dwelt. 
Moreover the interchange of tribal courtesies, and the 
fealty owing by an immemorial custom to the chieftains, 
makes the visits to Canada on the part of the Pennsyl- 
vania Indians more than a mere presumption. Again 
there is direct evidence, that the most prominent chiefs 
in Pennsylvania in the early colonial period, were then, 
or had been, members of the Church. 

Foremost stands the imposing and heroic figure of 
Shikellimy, the Oneida chief, one of the most august and 
impressive characters found in colonial times, who at this 
period resided at Shamokin (Sunbury). A man of fear- 
less intrepidity and dauntless courage, he yet had the 
ingenuousness of a child and the heart of a woman. His 
transparent honesty, uniform kindness, unquestioned 
truthfulness, and instinctive love of justice, makes him 
stand in bold relief, as the diametric opposite of what 
legend and history usually ascribe to his race. The 



49 

Moravian missionaries can hardly find fitting terms to 
convey their exalted opinion of the transcendent virtues of 
this man, whose love of justice and truth was so great 
11 that he was never known to violate his word or condone 
an offense." The Colonial Records are ineffaceable 
eulogies of Shikellimy, whose name always inspired 
reverence and awe. According to the Moravian mission- 
aries he was baptized in Canada by the Jesuits, and always 
wore "an idol" on his breast, no doubt a blessed medal. 
He died at Bethlehem, in 1748, having followed the Mora- 
vian missionaries to that place. He was the father of the 
eloquent Sajechtowa, better known as Logan, the Mingo 
chief, whose famous address is known to every schoolboy. 
Another prominent character, who figured in colonial 
history, was Madame Margaret Montour. In early life 
she married Roland Montour, a Seneca brave, and at his 
death Carandawana, chief of the Oneidas. She lived 
along the Susquehanna as early as 1727. She was a woman 
of masculine mental and physical vigor, and ruled her 
people with an autocratic sway, in bold contrast with that 
of the mild Shikellimy. Her influence was of a nature, 
that made not only traders, but even colonial governors 
court her grace, with an assiduity and obsequiousness, halt 
amusing, — had it not been essentially necessary. Her 
allegiance to the English was but half-hearted, and at 
times extremely dubious, if not suspicious, for, of French 
extraction herself, she could not forget the kindness of 



5° 

which she and her adopted people had been the recipients. 
She was held in such high esteem that when her husband 
Carandawana was killed in a war with the Catawbas, 
Thomas Penn, then Proprietary, saw fit publicly to ex- 
press his condolences to her. * The settlement she founded 
was variously called Ostonwakin, " French Town," or 
"French Margaret's Town," and was situated on the 
area covered by the Seventh Ward (Newberry) in Williams- 
port. When Count Zinzendorf, the Moravian missionary, 
first called on her, thinking him a French priest, her joy 
was great, for now she could have u her child baptized." 
Her loyalty to her faith and to the French, both of which 
seemed synonymous terms at this period, caused no little 
irritation and fears to the government. Montour county, 
and Montoursville in Lycoming county, are named after 
Madame Montour, f 

French Margaret was a niece of Madame Montour, and 
was likewise famous in her day. She was the first pro- 
hibitionist of whom we have any record in Pennsylvania. 
She had prohibited the use of liquor in her little village 
and claimed her husband, Peter Quebec, had not drunk 
rum for six years. J In 1754 French Margaret and her 
Mohawk husband, and two grandchildren traveling in 



* Hist. West Branch. By McGinness, p. 102. 

f Memorials of the Moravian Church , p 320, et seq. 
J Hist. West Branch, p. 135, (foot note.) 



5i 

semi-barbaric state, with an Irish groom, and six relay 
and pack horses, emigrated to New York. 

Andrew Montour, whose name is always coupled with 
that of Conrad Weiser, is another name figuring frequently 
and prominently in the colonial history. He was the son 
of Madame Montour, and acted as interpreter for the Eng- 
lish. Whether he remained steadfast in the Faith is ex- 
tremely doubtful. In 1755, he lived on a grant of land 
(800 acres) given him by Gov. Hamilton in 1752, ten miles 
northwest of Carlisle, between the Conodoguinet, a creek 
near Carlisle, and the mountain. He was naturally of a 
roaming character, and freebooter-like sold his services to 
the highest bidder, though the Colonial Records bear evi- 
dence to the invaluable services he rendered the govern- 
ment, and the extremely hazardous missions he undertook 
in conveying despatches, etc. However, one moment we 
hear that the French set a reward of ^100 on his head, 
and shortly after he leads a band of warriors in capturing 
the Gilbert family in Iyehighton. 

From these random citations it will be seen that thor- 
ough historic research in this unexplored field would yield 
some strange and astonishing data. Some future historian, 
with ready access to the Jesuit Relations and Canadian 
church records, will no doubt throw light on this hazy 
subject, and prove that before the Catholic white man set 
foot in Pennsylvania, his Catholic brother of the house- 
hold of Faith had already glorified God in his own simple, 
but none the less fervent and Catholic manner. 



52 
CHAPTER IV. 

PIONEER PRIESTS — REV. JAMES PELLENTZ, SJ. — HIS 

LARGE PARISH — HIS HEROIC EXPLOITS AND 

ENDURING MONUMENTS. — FIRST VISITS 

TO CARLISLE. 

One of the most illustrious champions of our holy re- 
ligion, a pioneeer in laying the foundations of Catholic 
settlements, a veritable apostle in the magnitude and fruit- 
fulness of his labors, was Rev. James Pellentz, S.J. He was 
not only one of the forerunners of Catholicity in Pennsyl- 
vania, leaving an honest fame and precious memory 
wherever he set foot in his extensive wanderings, but one 
of the actual founders of St. Patrick's Congregation. To 
him next the Providence of God, the Cumberland Valley, 
York and Huntington Counties, in short the whole of 
Western Pennsylvania and Maryland owes a debt of un- 
dying gratitude. In his unflagging zeal and consuming 
love of souls, he stands pre-eminent as an ideal priest ; 
in his austere virtue, inexhaustible patience, unwearied 
charity and invincible courage, he was a typical son of 
St. Ignatius ; in his quick apprehension and almost intui- 
tional knowledge of the eventual growth, development 
and prosperity of the new country, he proved himself the 
hopeful, unerring patriot. The record of his indefatigable 
zeal, his extensive wanderings, his childlike faith and his 
burning charity, recalls and compares favorably with the 



53 



brightest pages of missionary toil and achievement in this 
country. When the history of the Catholic Church in 
Pennsylvania shall be written from better authenticated 
sources than the fragmentary and scattered data, which 
necessity compels us to 
accept now, the name of 
Pellentz will receive its 
due measure of recogni- 
tion and eulogy, and hand 
it down to coming gene- 
rations in prayer and ben- 
ediction. Time will only 
add to its lustre. 

Rev. James Pellentz, 
S.J., was born January 
19, 1727, in Germany ; 
entered the Society of 
Jesus in 1744, and made 
his vows in 1756. He was 
sent to this country from 
England in 1 758 with Rev. 
James Augustine Fram- 

bach and two other Jesuit fathers. According to Treacy* he 
spent ten years in Lancaster, Pa. , and a year and a half at 
Frederick Town, Md. , before he assumed charge of Cone- 




REV. JAMES PELLENTZ, S.J. 



* Old Catholic Maryland, p. 177. 



54 

wago. In all probability he was sent to Conewago and 
from there attended Lancaster as circumstances demanded. 
At all events, like the apostles of old he was not to confine 
his labors to one city or community, but the scene of his 
forty years' activity was to embrace an entire country, the 
whole of Pennsylvania, west of Philadelphia. Never was 
missionary more ardent in his zeal, more cheerful in his 
sacrifices, more hopeful in trial nor courageous under perse- 
cution, than this stranger in a strange country, speaking a 
strange tongue. From our modern standard of measuring 
heroism, his position seems simply to have risen to the un- 
attainable. 

Old settlers were accustomed to relate, not without a 
glow of admiration and a heart swelling with gratitude, 
how this holy priest traversed the whole country, pene- 
trating every settlement and clearing, 'even crossing the 
Alleghanies in search of the scattered Catholics, whom 
stress of circumstances obliged to seek this enforced 
isolation, on foot* If we bear in mind that this country 
was still infested by the Red Man, that in territorial extent 
the missions covered more than a hundred and thirty 
miles, that the bridle path or Indian trail, was frequently 
the only road that could be traveled, (the new military 
road of 1755 was still almost impassable), that the luxury 
of bridged streams was as yet unknown, that shelterless 
nights and exhausting days were more the rule than the 

* St. Vincenz in Penna., p. 56. 



55 

exception, — and bearing in mind that in addition to this 
Father Pellentz carried all the requisites for saying Holy 
Mass, — the altar stone, missal, vestments, chalice, etc., in 
a bundle strapped to his back, we leave the reader to draw 
his own picture of this missionary in his holy wanderings. 

Every rude hut would serve as a temple, every im- 
provised table as an altar. The manger at Bethlehem was 
fully as decent as many places where the Unbloody Sacri- 
fice was offered up. 

It took the first wagon that went West in 1789, drawn 
by four horses from Hagerstown to Brownsville, more than 
two weeks to get to its destination. The progress made 
by a solitary traveler on foot in 1758, weighted with a 
heavy burden and at times faint from fasting, is a picture 
worthy of a poet's pen or painter's brush. 

Pennsylvania is marked with the footprints that attest 
his pious zeal, and dotted with landmarks that give incon- 
testable evidence of his prudent foresight. For it must be 
borne in mind that the whole State of Pennsylvania from 
the Delaware to the Ohio was territorially apportioned to 
but five priests at this time. Revs. Robert Molyneux and 
Ferdinand Farmer (Steinmayer) were stationed at Phila- 
delphia ; Luke Geissler, of whom we will presently hear 
again, at Lancaster ; John B. De Ritter, at Goshenhoppen, 
and James Pellentz at Conewago. 

In his apportionment Father Pellentz had the whole of 
Pennsylvania west of the Susquehanna as his parish. 



56 

The magnitude of the task, the inaccessibility of the 
settlements, the hardships and privations of travel did not 
dampen his zeal ; for what were these difficulties com- 
pared to the poignant sorrow of seeing souls perish for 
want of spiritual nutriment ? The number of Catholics 
was pitifully small ; their mode of life for obvious reasons 
not gregarious, and consequently they were scattered 
promiscuously if not fortuitously wherever an asylum was 
offered from religious persecution or marauding Indians. 
As late as 1784 the census of souls gives us this startling 
revelation of the number of Catholics under the Propri- 
etaries : Philadelphia and adjoining counties — one 
thousand ; Goshenhoppen, seven hundred, and Conewago 
and missions only five hundred. These five hundred were 
scattered from the Susquehanna to the Ohio, the only 
known Catholic settlements being Conewago and Path 
Valley, — with an increasing population in Carlisle, Ship- 
pensburg, Huntington and Bedford (Raystown). What 
now comprises New York State had not one church, and 
the city which then was the capital of the country, had 
only eighteen communicants of whom three were Germans, 
and no nationality ascribed to the others. 

The following letter written by one of his companions, 
his sacristan,* may lift the veil and give us a passing 
glimpse of the arduous toil and sore hardships that formed 

*Mainzer, Monatschrift von Geistlichen Sacken, (1785), p. 457 ; quoted by Reily in his 
Recollections in the Life of Cardinal Gibbons^ p. 563. 



57 

the routine life of Father Pellentz. It is an excerpt from 
a letter written to a German magazine by Paul Mueller, 
dated June 28th, 1785 : " Oh that the good God would be 
merciful and send us energetic spiritual advisers,what grand 
harvests they could make. Our good father James Pellentz, 
who is nearly fifty years of age, and twenty- eight in this 
country, has very much labor day and night, with sick calls, 
confessions and sermons, especially on Sundays and Holy 
Days, when, from six o'clock in the morning till twelve 
and one o'clock, he hears confessions ; so that it is usually 
from two until half past two, before the Holy Mass is over, 
and often, with baptisms and sermons, it is after four 
o'clock before he takes any nourishment ; and often he 
has weak spells at the altar, and then (meaning after Mass) 
one or two are waiting to take him on sick calls. From 
this one can judge how many confessions he has to hear, 
when I, who make for him all the Hosts he uses, have 
made from March 24th until today, June 28th, 2740 small 
hosts that he used. From this you can see what an enor- 
mous labor for one man." 

The prudent counsels and rare executive ability of the 
good father no doubt had much to do in adjusting the 
national animosities, and his thorough knowledge of the 
country's topography stood him in good stead in forming 
our coreligionists into more cohesive and compact bodies, 
and as a nucleus to insure the perpetuation, he wisely pur- 
chased land for churches. The Catholic once resting 



58 

under the shadow of the cross ceases to be a nomad, fells 
the trees, clears the land, tills the soil, erects his log cabin, 
and establishes his home. 




CHURCH OF THE SACRED HEART, CONEWAGO, PA. 

In 1784 he sent Father Geissler, his assistant at the 
time, money to purchase a house at Carlisle " to hold ser- 
vice in," of which we shall hear more presently ; in the 



59 

same year he secures a building at Littlestown for the first 
church in that community ; in the same year he paid ^31 
for a church site at Standing Stone, the present Hunting- 
ton. In 1785 he began and finished the massive stone 
structure, which has the enviable distinction of being the 
first church erected in honor of the Sacred Heart in this 
country, at Conewago. He improved the place by the 
erection of a commodious and substantial parsonage, 
with the necessary adjuncts indispensable at that time — a 
capacious barn and extensive farm buildings. In 1786 he 
was one of the main factors in the establishment of 
Georgetown College, and was appointed one of its direct- 
ors. In 1 791 he was one of the attendants at the First 
Provincial Council of Baltimore, and was appointed Vicar 
General by Bishop Carroll. He was likewise one of the 
promoters and subscribers to the first Catholic Bible 
published in this country in 1789, it being a reprint of 
Bishop Challoner's revision, issued from the press of 
Mathew Carey. 

Human activity and physical endurance could not hold 
out long under the ravages of such rigorous and incessant 
toil ; the inadequacy of the laborers, the vast extent of 
the vineyard, the inclemency of the weather and the cli- 
matic changes, could not fail but undermine the most 
rugged health and daunt the most courageous spirit. It 
was the crying demand for more help that not only urged 
him to make frequent appeals to Germany for priests, but 



6o 

found him ever ready with the necessary funds to defray 
the expenses of the wearisome and certainly not inexpen 
sive voyage. Father Pellentz himself writes, under date 
of Aug. 20th, 1785, in a letter forwarded to Coblentz on 
the Rhine : u I pray you do everything in your power to 
send me two priests to America. Since my last letter 
affairs have gone considerably worse here, as our dear 
Father Luke Geissler is at present so weak that we fear he 
cannot live long. I myself have also a fever which 
oppresses me greatly, and from ali appearances will render 
me unable to continue my great labors that I have until 
now undergone. * * * I have a flourishing mission 
and from the number of those who receive the Blessed 
Sacrament, there is no other in the whole of North 
America which will compare with it. It is a great pity 
that we have not more priests. They could bring back to 
the right path many who have strayed away, since we 
now have full religious liberty." * 

In 1795 we find Father Pellentz at Port Tobacco, Md., 
and the newly ordained Prince Demetrius Gallitzin as his 
most capable and efficient assistant. 

After forty years of arduous, but fruitful labor,- — laying 
the foundation of Catholic faith in Pennsylvania, he went 
to his eternal reward on Nov. 21st, 1799, dying at Cone- 



* American Cath. Hist. Researches, July, 1891. Vol. VIII, p. 132. 



6i 

wago, where his remains were interred, and where this 
beautiful epitaph commemorates his holy career : 

"REV. JACOBUS PELLENTZ SECURUS MORITUR, FECIT SE 

MORTE RENASCI 

NON EA MORS DICI, SED NOVA VITA POTEST 

NOMEN PELLENTZ ISTE TERQUE QUATERQUE MORETUR 

HOSPES! UBI JACIT HIC ET DOMUS ET DOMINI 

TEMPLUM! QUODQUE SUUM FECIT ZELO PIETATE 

UT POPULUM TENEAT SUB GREMIO ECCLESIAE." 

(" Rev. James Pellentz dies in peace by the grace of 
Him who by His death regenerated him. Not death, but 
rather life should it be called. The name of Pellentz has 
many claims to consideration. A stranger in a strange 
land, he erected this the temple of God, and with zeal and 
piety made it the object of his life to gather men within 
the Church.") 

It falls to few men to make and leave such a noble 
record. His work will forever remain a monument of 
zeal, determination and genius. His purity of life, good- 
ness of heart, pervasive efficacy ; his discipline and labor 
in the church ; the breadth of his knowledge, the grandeur 
of his ideas concerning the future of the church in this 
country, form together a combination of character- 
istics worthy of the most glowing pages in the history of 
missionary achievement. 



62 

CHAPTER V. 

REV. CHARLES SEWALL, S. J., ATTENDS CARLISLE. — AT- 
TENDS THE MISSIONS ATTACHED TO CONEWAGO. — 
MAKES THE FIRST PURCHASE OF PROPERTY 
FOR A CATHOLIC CHURCH IN 1779. — FIRST 
RESIDENT PASTOR OF BALTIMORE. — 
HIS LABORIOUS LIFE. 

i 

The next priest of whom we have definite and tangible 
evidence in Carlisle, is the Rev. Charles Sewall, S. J., an 
assistant to Father Pellentz, imbued with the same zeal, 
inspired by the same charity and rewarded by the same re- 
sults. No doubt the latter had taken more than a casual 
survey of the territory that composed his parish, discerned 
the possibilities that lay hidden in the different towns and 
settlements, and at the proper time adopted the necessary 
measures to effect purchases which eventually would lead 
to the formation of parishes and construction of churches. 
The unobtrusive and efficient manner in which the former 
carried out the designs of his superior, the methodical 
plan adopted in the formation of these different charges, 
and the generosity with which they were assisted and 
maintained, gives but another evidence of the total ab- 
sorption of self in the apostolic work before them. In this 
formative state of society the poverty of the faithful pre- 
cluded all possibility of their making purchases either of 
land or property, therefore the priest came not only with 



63 

an open heart to minister to their spiritual wants, but with 
an open purse to supply their material resources. The 
first sites for churches, and the first churches were built 
without entailing any pecuniary responsibility on the faith- 
ful. The court dockets give ample testimony of this truth. 

Where did the financial aid come from ? 

The Society of Jesus was suppressed in 1773, its mem- 
bers exiled from Catholic countries, while only Prussia 
under Frederic the Great offered an asylum — " to preserve 
the seed," as he facetiously writes to Voltaire, "that he 
might at some time furnish it to those who should desire 
to cultivate so rare a plant." 

The Empress Catharine likewise invited them to Russia 
and gave them charge of the four colleges respectively at 
Polotsk, Vitepsk, Orcha and Dimabourg. Flattering and 
honorable as these acts may have been, they certainly were 
not remunerative, nor adequate to supply the individual 
wants much less the increasing expenses of the mis- 
sions. 

It is probable, in fact strong presumptive evidence is at 
hand, that the support of these missions was derived from 
an endowment made by Sir John James of Heston, Mid- 
dlesex, England. By its provision ^4000 was held by the 
Vicar Apostolic of London, with the proviso, that forty 
pounds be annually applied to the Catholic poor of I^ondon, 
the balance to support the indigent missionaries in Penn- 
sylvania. It was regarded as annexed to the church at 



6 4 

Lancaster, and for many years gave twenty pounds an- 
nually to four missions in Pennsylvania. Was Carlisle 
one of these ? * 

Rev. Charles Sewall, S. J. , the actual founder of the Car- 
lisle parish was born in St. Mary's County, Maryland, July 
4th, f 1744, on his father's estate at Mattapany on the Patux- 
ent River. He came from good old English stock. His 
ancestors came from England with Lord Baltimore in 
1634, and of course were devout Catholics. 

The environments of his childhood, the atmosphere of 
piety in which he spent his boyhood, the association and 
intercourse with the holy men who then ministered to the 
spiritual wants of the Catholics throughout the broad 
domains of Maryland and Pennsylvania, could not fail but 
make a forceful and salutary impression on the mind of 
the susceptible youth. The church of St. Nicholas ad- 
joined his father's estate, which was but twelve or fifteen 
miles from St. Inigo's, one of the sacred landmarks of 
Catholicity in Maryland, — attended then as it is even now 
by the fathers of the Society of Jesus. 

It is very likely that he made his preparatory studies at 
Bohemia Manor, a seat of learning which the Jesuits had 
established in spite of penal laws. He entered upon his 
collegiate course at St. Omer's in France, in 1758, when 

* Am. Catk. Hist. Researches, Vol. V, No. 4. 

f The Cath. Church in the U. S. De Courcy, p. 543. 



65 

but fourteen years of age. In 1764 he entered the Society 
of Jesus; and returned to this country with Father Augus- 
tine Jenkins, S. J., on May 24, 1774. 

His first mission was one to tax the most perfervid 
neophyte. As we saw above, a perilous ministry if not 
self annihilation awaited the priest in those days. To 
traverse nearly the entire State of Maryland and Pennsyl- 
vania on foot, on horseback or in ram-shackle stage 
coaches in quest of the few persecuted, poverty stricken 
Catholics was a physical ordeal of no small magnitude ; to 
live on the charity of the poor, sharing their rude log 
cabins and homely fare, was to this man of gentle birth 
and cultivated tastes a labor of love, — for was not the Son 
of God born in a stable, where there was but scant comfort, 
and died on the cross where there was none ? Cruel arro- 
gance, coarse insult, haughty defiance, bitter menace and 
inextinguishable hatred confronted the missionaries at 
almost every step;— but with uncompromising firmness, 
with gentle speech and invincible courage they toiled and 
prayed and persevered until the harvest for which they 
planted the seed though unreaped and ungarnered by 
them, was still showing promise of a golden fulness to 
their eager views. 

It was such a destiny that awaited Father Sewall when 
he assumed his position as assistant to the saintly Pellentz 
at Conewago. Lancaster, York, Elizabethtown, Cham- 
bersburg, Carlisle, Huntington, Bedford, not to mention 



66 

the widely scattered missions in Maryland, were the 
theatre of this man's zeal. 

The hardship, exposure and privation of such a life, not 
to dwell upon the " solicitude for the churches" threatened 
to cut short his active career, and his health caused his 
superior no little concern and anxiety. A change of 
climate, and a life different from that of an itinerant mis- 
sionary was necessary. From 1782 to 1793 we find him in 
charge of St. Peter's Church, Baltimore, Md., being the 
first resident pastor of that city. From a letter of Father 
Pellentz to Dr. Carroll we glean the following : " I am 
entirely satified with Mr. Sewall' s resolution to stay in 
Baltimore, as I always thought he would not live long 
here, and that he would do more for God's greater glory 
and the salvation of souls in Baltimore than here. For 
that reason I advised him in his trouble to have patience 
and to take courage. To the same intent I called to his 
remembrance that Saints Ignatius and Theresa expected 
always great success when they met with serious obstacles 
in the beginning of a new college or monastery. The 
hardships Mr. Sewall suffered made me think that Balti- 
more would be a very flourishing mission. I beg of your 
Reverence not to be uneasy for keeping Mr. Sewall from 
me. I am fully persuaded that he is more necessary 
where he is than here."* 

* Rev. J. Pellentz to V. Rev. Dr. Carroll, Feb. 27, 1786. 



6 7 

His career in Baltimore did not disappoint the hopes " 
centered in him. His labors extending over ten years 
were rewarded beyond his most sanguine expectations, and 
the prophetic foresight of Father Pellentz as to the 
religious possibilities that lay hidden in Baltimore more 
than verified. 

Though a man of scholarly attainments, a versatile 
linguist, a profound theologian, a capable business man, — 
his success as a pulpit orator seemed hardly to rise above 
the level of respectable mediocrity.* 

This was more than ordinarily disappointing to the poor 
father, living as he did in a community where all the 
niceties and graces of oratory had been cultivated as of 
paramount importance by the Protestant ministry. How- 
ever this deficiency in no way afiected his usefulness, nor 
the impression he left on his people. A man whose aus- 
tere, pure life, could not escape the observation of even 
the unthinking world — was the most persuasive of sermons 
in itself. When eventually Dr. Carroll took up his home 
with him in 1786, and his own simple, unctuous efforts 
were "inadvertently pitted against the transcendent elo- 
quence of one of America's most luminous intellects and 
most magnetic orators, the line of demarcation being more 
conspicuous than ever was not disheartening or depressing 
to him. Full of sweetness and charity, he still continued 
unremitting in his holy work. 

* Scharf — Chronicles of Baltimore, p. 251. 



68 

Every enterprise to ameliorate the condition of his 
people and further the ends of Holy Church found in him 
a ready advocate and a gallant champion. Whether it 
was his missionary excursions through Pennsylvania from 
1774 to 1792, or his presence at the First Synod of Balti- 
more in 1791, or when he acted as one of the incorporators 
of Georgetown College in 1786, or temporarily supplied 
Bohemia Manor in 1793, or acted as agent for the Corpora- 
tion of Clergy in 1797, or built the church in St. Thomas 
Manor in 1798, or was one of the first to re-enter the 
Society of Jesus upon its restoration in 1802,* — he was 
ever active and eager in the service of God, ever ready to 
assume any work allotted to him. He worked on modestly 
and unobtrusively, — one unerring and deep searching 
Eye alone penetrating his heart and soul, seeing its secret 
motives, reading its unpublished thoughts, divining its 
unrevealed desires. 

His health never robust was rapidly failing under the 
strain of incessant labor, and on Feb. 25th, 1805, he 
writes to his brother, Father Nicholas Sewall, S. J., who 
on the restoration of the Society of Jesus entered the 
English Province, " that for six weeks past I have been 
confined to my room and unable to say mass, but I hope 
to be able to officiate in the church next Sunday. " 
Whether his pious wish was gratified we cannot ascertain. 

*Bp. Carroll to Fr. Marmaduke Stone, Balto., 1805. 



6q 

On the following tenth of November, 1805, he surrend- 
ered his soul to God at St. Thomas Manor, where no 
doubt he was buried. 

The fact that he was assistant to Father Pellentz im- 
plied that his parish embraced the Province of Pennsyl- 
vania, and we can trace his career as far as Standing Stone 
(Huntington), where he suggested the advisability of hav- 
ing his superior purchase a place to hold service in, 
which was actually done in 1785, when he paid Rev. Luke 
Geissler j£$i with this object in view. There can be 
little doubt, that like his superior he penetrated even the 
remotest missions and settlements that were in the vast 
territorial jurisdiction of Conewago. In doing so, like the 
prudent and farseeing observer Father Sewall was, he 
could not fail but detect the possibilities that lay hidden 
in the embryonic towns, which in the Providence of God 
might become important and populous cities, in which the 
Church of God, might become a factor of soul-saving im- 
portance in the promotion of virtue and holiness, and con- 
currently, thrift and prosperity. Therefore we see that 
unaided, though no doubt encouraged by the pioneer set- 
tlers, he, .and especially Father Pellentz, made a careful 
survey of the advantageous lands and eligible sites that 
were constantly in the market, purchased them and thus 
laid the foundation of the future parish. In many enter- 
prising localities free sites were offered for churches, con- 
ditioned upon an obligation to erect a church within a 



7° 

specified time, — this evidently more to be an encourage- 
ment to colonization than a promotive inducement to 
morality. 

Carlisle as a bustling frontier town, the centre of con- 
siderable commercial activity, with abundant educational 
facilities, — one of the main arteries that carried traffic 
west, south and east, — not to mention the increasing and 
highly progressive population, could not fail but create 
the hope that the future had promising realizations in 
prospect. No doubt fully impressed with these sentiments, 
Father Sewall on the 5th Feb., 1779, on one of his periodic 
visits, made the following purchase in Carlisle : 

Deed This Indenture* made the fifth day 

Robert Guthrie f p e b ruaT y i n the year of our Lord one 

the younger J J 

to thousand seven Hundred and seventy- 

chanes sewaii nine Between Ro bert Guthrie the 

younger of the town of Carlisle, of the County of Cum- 
berland and State of Pennsylvania, joiner of the one part, 
And Charles Sewall of Heidelburg Township of the 
County of York and State aforesaid of the other part Wit- 
nesseth that the said Robert Guthrie for and in Considera- 
tion of the sum of Thirty Pounds Lawful Money of 
Pennsylvania to him in hand paid by the said Charles 
Sewall at or before the execution hereof the receipt and 
payment whereof is hereby acknowledged, and the said 

*Dated Feb. 5, 1779, Record Book E. p. 304. 



7i 

Charles Sewall thereof forever acquitted and Discharged 
by these Presents, he the said Robert Guthrie Hath 
granted, Bargained, Sold, Released and Confirmed and by 
these presents Doth grant and Bargain, Sell and Release 
and Confirmed unto the said Charles Sewall and to his Heirs 
and Assigns a Certain Messuage and L,ott of Ground Sit- 
uate and being in the Town of Carlisle in the County of 
Cumberland aforesaid. Bounded on the North by Pom- 
fret Street on the East by a L,ott the Property of Robert 
Cummins on the South by a Twenty feet alley and on the 
West by a Lot of Robert Guthrie the Elder Containing in 
front on the said Street Sixty feet and in Depth to the said 
Alley two hundred and forty feet. Known in the General 
plan of the said Town by its No 274 Together with all and 
singular Buildings and improvements thereon and Premises 
with the appurtenances whatsoever thereto belonging or in 
any ways appertaining and the Reversions and Remainders 
Rents Issues and Profits thereof and all Estate Right 
Title Interest Property Claim Demand Whatsoever both 
at Law and in equity of him the said Robert Guthrie of 
in and to the same and every part thereof. To have and 
to hold the said Messuage and L,ott of Ground hereby 
granted and released or meant mentioned or indented so 
to be with the appurtenances unto the said Charles Sew- 
all his Heirs and Assigns. To the only proper use benefit 
and Behoof of the said Charles Sewall his Heirs and 
Assigns for ever Subject to the Quit rents due and to 



72 . 

become Due to the chief Lord of Lords of the fee and the 
said Robert Guthrie for himself and for his Heirs Doth 
hereby Covenant promise grant and agree to and with the 
said Charles Sewall his Heirs and Assigns by these pres- 
ents that he the said Robert Guthrie and his Heirs the 
above Mentioned and Described Messuage and Lott of 
Ground with the appurtenances unto the said Charles 
Sewall and his Heirs and all and every other person or 
persons whomsoever lawfully Claiming or to Claime the 
same or any part thereof from by or under him the said 
Robert Guthrie and his Heirs shall and will warrant and 
forever Defend by these Presents. In Witness whereof 
the said parties to these Presents have hereto interchange- 
ably set their hands and Seals the Day and year first above 
Written. 

Signed Sealed and Delivered Robert Guthrie 

in the Presence of [seal.] 

John Gray 

Jno. Steel junr. 

Received the Day of the Date of the 
above Indenture from the above named Charles Sewall 
the sum of Thirty Pounds Lawful Money ass'd being the 
full Consideration therein Mentioned. Witness my hand 
the same day and year first above written. 
Witness present 

John Gray Robert Guthrie 

John Steele, Junr. [seal.] 



73 

Cumberland County, ss. 

Be it remembered that on the fifth Day of February, 
Anno Domini 1779 Before me the Subscriber one of the 
Justices of the Peace Assigned &c to keep &c came the 
above named Robert Guthrie the Younger and acknowl- 
edged the above Indenture to be his act and Deed and 
Desired that as such the same may be recorded. Witness 
my hand and Seal the day and year above written. 

John Creigh. 

Received March 5th 1779 and compared with the ori- 
ginal. Wm. L,yon, Reed. 

The location was then considered, if not a most eligible 
one, one that at all events had some commendable feat- 
ures, prominent among which was its cheapness. The 
culture and wealth of the town clustered about the Public 
Square, and scattered itself over High and Hanover 
Streets. It was the centre of professional and commercial 
life, the churches, the inns, the public square, were then 
to be found as they are now, within a stone's throw of the 
old seat of justice. However, East Street had some sub- 
stantial if not pretty homes, which indicated not only 
thrift and comfort, but independence, and no doubt Pom- 
fret Street may have had possibilities from a speculative 
point of view, very satisfactory to the investor. Moreover 
a purchase of property for Catholic worship would possi- 
bly have encountered some opposition should its aspirations 



74 

have been to enter the more prominent streets. The 
church was still looked upon with a disdain not untinged 
with suspicion and fear. Even the prospect of a remuner- 
ative investment may have been counterbalanced by the 
latent bigotry, which made the Catholic more an object 
of vigilant tolerance than that of a pure patriotism which 
respected his rights as an equal. The second barrier in 
the way of going up town, and perhaps the more convin- 
cing one, was the depleted exchequer of the poverty 
stricken missionary. 

Here then, three years after the Declaration of Independ- 
ence, ten years before the Constitution had been framed, 
with authority still vested in the Supreme Executive Coun- 
cil, with General Washington in command of the Conti- 
nental forces, Benedict Arnold in command of the military 
at Philadelphia, Lieut. General Sullivan carrying a war 
of extermination into the country of the Six Nations, 
Colonel Brodhead heading a most successful expedition up 
the Susquehanna against the Muncy towns, with the coun- 
try divided into clamorous Tories and bellicose Royalists, 
with no national currency as yet in sight, the first foundation 
of Catholicity, west of the Susquehanna, was laid. 



75 
CHAPTER VI. 

REV. LUKE GEISSLER, S.J., BUILDS THE FIRST LOG CHAPEL IN 
CARLISLE, 1784. — NEED OF GERMAN PRIESTS. — PUR- 
CHASES A HOUSE IN HUNTINGTON TO HOLD SERVICES 
IN. — CARLISLE CHURCH THE ONLY ONE BETWEEN 
LANCASTER AND ST. LOUIS. — REV. STANISLAUS 
CERFOUMONT. — HIS HISTORY. — VERIFICA- 
TION OF AN OLD TRADITION. — REV. LOUIS 
DE BARTH. — ERECTION OF FLRST BRICK 
CHURCH AT CARLISLE 1806. 

The next priest of whom we have any authentic inform- 
ation as being closely identified with Carlisle, and who 
belonged to that zealous band of Catholic pioneers, whose 
work and foresight now elicits our admiration, as it no 
doubt earned the gratitude of their contemporaries, was 
Father Geissler. Like the former he belonged to that 
intrepid band of Conewago Jesuits, whose labors were as 
incessant as their presence was ubiquitous, when souls 
were to be saved and God glorified. To their admirable 
tact, consistent prudence and uniform harmony which 
guided them in their scattered labors and which permeated 
the little society on the frontier of civilization, may be 
ascribed much of the success and certainly the perpetuity 
of their efforts. 

Rev. Luke Geissler, was born in Germany in 1735, 
entered the Society of Jesus in 1756, became a professed 



7 6 

father in 1772. He landed in Philadelphia on March 26th, 
1769. For a number of years he made his home with 
Father Pellentz as an assistant, and from Conewago as the 
centre missionary work radiated, reaching every known 
Catholic settlement, even family in the Province. 

At this time the urgent need of a German priest was more 
keenly felt, — not only on account of the increased emigra- 
tion, but in Carlisle on account of the recent accession to 
its population by transferring many of the captured Hes- 
sians to this frontier town. For after the capture of Tren- 
ton Dec. 25th, 1776, a large number of these poor Hessians 
were sent to Carlisle, and were employed in the erection 
of the stone military barrack, a part of which are still in 
existence. 

Out of the 16,992 that were hired to England by Land- 
grave Frederick II of Hesse Cassel, although almost all 
Protestants, not a few Catholics were to be found, who no 
doubt were loth to return to the life of serfdom, when such 
glorious prospects of liberty were within reach. In Phila- 
delphia alone more than six hundred were married,* in 
many instances to Catholics. At all events the fact that 
only 10,402 returned gives strong color to the presump- 
tion that many deserted and settled down in America. 
Out of the Carlisle prisoners no doubt many, pitied and 
treated with great kindness by its citizens who realized the 

* Records of the Am* Cath. Hist. Soc, Vol. II, p. 300. 



77 

unwilling role they played in the War of Independence, 
preferred to share the hopeful future and promising antici- 
pations of this country to the certain penury and servitude 
of a bankrupt petty German principality. Our cemetery 
gives evidence that some of them either by birth or con- 
version were Catholics 5 and their bodies lie interred in 
consecrated ground. 

In 1784 Father Geissler was sent to take charge of St. 
Mary's Church, Lancaster, then known as the Mission of 
St. John Nepomucene. It was shortly after he assumed 
charge of this parish, that he must have built the first log 
chapel which tradition mentions, and which was then 
commonly known as a " Mass-house,' ' located about 
midway between Pomfret St. and what on account of the 
building, has ever since been known as " Chapel Alley." 
As usual in establishing new churches the faithful were 
not called upon for financial aid, and the money for 
the lot on which the building was erected, as well as the 
building itself was advanced by the missionaries. 

The chapel was no doubt long in contemplation, and its 
erection, modest, plain and ungainly though it was, — a 
consummation ineffably sweet to the Catholic heart. Its 
presence was an assurance that now, regular spiritual 
ministration was in prospect, and that at least Holy Mass 
might be celebrated in a house, which belonged to Our 
Lord alone. Father Pellentz writes to Very Dr. Carroll 
from Conewago under date of Oct. 1st, 1785 : u I paid Mr. 



78 

Geissler ninety-six pounds {£. 96) for a house in Carlisle to 
keep service in ; thirty-one pounds (^.31) for a house in 
Standing Stone bought with Mr. Se wall's advice."* 

The structure must have been of a most unpretentious 
kind, and furnished to meet only the most pressing needs 
of the people, the priest making his abode as usual with 
some of the faithful. The temporary character of the 
structure must have been very much in evidence, — for the 
influx of Catholic emigrants, the growing prosperity of 
the old settlers, the more tolerant attitude of Protestants, 
and especially the increasing prominence of Carlisle, — 
would hardly warrant these prudent clergymen to imagine 
for a moment that the primitive structure would not be 
soon supplanted by a more worthy edifice. No trace or 
vestige of the old chapel remains. Only a remote tradi- 
tion has kept alive the fact that the chapel was built of 
logs, and that it was situated between Pomfret Street and 
Chapel Alley. Death, emigration to the west, and loss 
of faith, have been perhaps more potent in effacing these 
old traditions, than the removal of the hallowed land- 
marks themselves. 

This chapel was the first Catholic house of worship erected 
west of the Susquehanna. At the time of its completion it 
was the only building specifically set aside for Catholic 
worship betwee7i Lancaster, Pa. and St. Louis, Mo. In 

* Rev. Jas. Pellentz to V. Rev. Dr. Carroll, Oct. ist, 1785. 



79 

chronological order it ranks fifth in the State of Penn- 
sylvania, outside of Philadelphia. The churches at Lan- 
caster, Goshenhoppen, Conewago and York alone antedate 
it. 

At this time there was a crying need of priests in Phila- 
delphia. The Catholic population since the Declaration 
of Independence was increasing rapidly ; new settlements 
were effected contiguous to the city ; the priests were grow- 
ing old and feeble, unable to cope with the engrossing cares 
and everchanging difficulties that cropped out at every stage 
of the work. Father Molyneux and Father Farmer toiled 
unsparingly for years, and with increasing years they felt 
increasing infirmities, or as the former sententiously puts 
it — " every day the labor increases and my ability de- 
creases. " Father Geissler himself was to step into the 
breach, though already feeling the hand of death. Father 
Molyneux writes to Very Rev. Dr. Carroll for an assistant 
and singles out Father Geissler.* "I hope," he writes, 
" you will consider us and order Mr. Geissler to our assist- 
ance if possible. It is pleasing to me, to Mr. Farmer, and 
he himself is sensible of the necessity. For my part I 
have no private views, the public good is all I seek." 

To shirk duty or be dilatory in obeying orders in 
emergencies of such a nature are delinquencies that can 
seldom be laid to the charge of the priesthood, — to the 

* Rev. R. Molyneux to V. Rev. Dr. Carroll. Woodstock Letters, pp. 193-94. 



8o 

Jesuit never. Though suffering from a malady, which as 
we saw above caused considerable anxiety to his superior, 
Father Geissler went to Philadelphia, and with Father 
Beeston assisted Father Molyneux. However he remained 
only for a short time. — His illness assumed such a stage 
that he hurried back to Conewago, where he finally suc- 
cumbed, dying on August ioth, 1786.* 

Speaking of him and Father Farmer, Shea says — " Both 
were of that band of excellent missionaries whom the 
Jesuit provinces in Germany had sent to America to attend 
their countrymen, but whose labors were given unstintedly 
to all Catholics." His twenty years of missionary work 
displayed the tireless energy, the heroic courage, and im- 
perturbable determination, that seemed to be the pro- 
vidential endowment of all his colaborers. Like them, 
his disinterested love of souls, his intrepidity in confront- 
ing the manifold difficulties that beset his path, and his 
triumphant assertion of divine truth " in season and out 
of season," were the mainsprings of action, the predomi- 
nant attributes of his character. Like them, we find him 
identified with every religious, educational or moral enter- 
prise that was calculated to lead men to holiness and 
peace. Like them, his prayers were heard, his labors 
blessed, and the glory of God promoted. 



* Treacy, Old Catholic Maryland, p. 181. 



8i 

REV. STANISLAUS CERFOUMONT. 

Prominent among the missionaries who in the mean- 
time, and early in the year 1800, did meritorious work, 
though his name occurs with less frequency, and seems 
less conspicuous than the preceding, was the Rev. Stanis- 
laus Cerfoumont, who succeeded Father Geissler. His 
personality is shrouded in considerable mystery, and the 
avidity with which early historians took it for granted 
that all who were connected with the Conewago mission 
were on that account Jesuits, only added to the general 
mystification. Conewago during the first half century of 
Catholicity in Pennsylvania reflected and focalized Catho- 
lic life ; it was the asylum of the emigrant priest, no 
matter to what nationality or religious order he belonged ; 
it was the centre from which Catholic life radiated. All 
who came for the Pennsylvania missions, outside of Phila- 
delphia, reported at Conewago ; from there they received 
their instructions and credentials, and only as the accred- 
ited agents of Conewago, did they receive the respect and 
homage of the Catholics. 

The evidence in the case of Father Cerfoumont seems to 
preponderate on the side that he was a Franciscan, who 
though he made his home at Conewago and died there, 
was never a Jesuit. * This we may infer from the following 

* In reply to inquiries made by the Rt. Rev. Camillus Maes, Bishop of Covington , 
Ky., the Ballandists at Brussels state that the name of Cerfoumont is not found in 
the official records of the Society of Jesus. 



82 

letter quoted by Maes in his " Life of Rev. Charles 
Nerinckx." Speaking of Conewago, the letter goes on to 
state : "A beautiful chapel has been erected in the 
neighborhood by a Jesuit, (Pellentz) and in the pastoral 
residence I found a precious library of Flemish and Dutch 
books left by a Franciscan missionary of Liege, who had 
resided there."* 

This no doubt was Stanislaus Cerfoumont, since an old 
tradition connects his name with large contributions to the 
library.f Whether he subsequently joined the Society of 
Jesus, is likewise a mooted point on which no light can be 
thrown — though in the mind of the writer it is highly 
improbable. 

Rev. Stanislaus Cerfoumont was born in the diocese of 
Li£ge in the year 1751. Of his career, until he came to 
this country in 1785, little is known. Like all mission- 
aries who entered this vineyard, he attached himself to one 
of the larger missions in the capacity of assistant. His 
field of activity was virtually the same as that of his holy 
companions, whose hardships and privations he shared. 
Traces of his itinerant career can be discovered in all the 
outlying missions of Conewago and Lancaster. His 
name is likewise found in Maryland and at the First 
Synod of Baltimore. 

Two incidents in his career we beg to call especial atten- 

* Maes, Life of Rev. Charles Nerinckx , May 6, 1806. 
t McSherry, Hist. St. Aloysius Churchy Littlestown, p. 64. 



83 

tion to. The one reads like a romance, and if it goes to 
establishing anything, it is the trustworthiness and veracity 
of local traditions. 

Shortly after the writer's ordination (1877) he was 
assigned to Lykens, Pa., as assistant. In his parochial 
work he was frequently summoned to Millersburg, Dauphin 
Co., Pa. His intercourse with some of the intelligent 
non-Catholics of that community disclosed the existence 
of an old tradition, that at one time a priest had lived on 
the other side of the river in Perry County, and as a con- 
firmation of the truthfulness of the report, it was alleged 
that some of his " sacred robes " were still, in a rather 
tattered condition, in the supposititious priest's house. 
There was such a delicious flavor of mystery about the 
narrative on the one hand that almost set an immediate 
investigation in progress, — but on the other hand there 
was such an air of romantic improbability, that the matter 
was left in abeyance, at least for the time being. More 
persistent and veracious witnesses however led the writer 
to make cursory inquiry before entering upon a search. 
A clergyman of the diocese, in whose knowledge of dio- 
cesan history it was thought implicit confidence could be 
placed, dismissed the matter summarily by maintaining 
that it was probably a vestment, " forgotten by some priest 
while saying Mass for the Catholics employed in the con- 
struction of canals." Our knowledge of the topography of 
Perry County was so childishly imperfect at the time — 



8 4 

that we never investigated whether the county had any 
canals or railroads, or like John Ruskin's ideal country 
was free from " these curses of modern money making 
traffic." At the time the opinion seemed so reasonable, 
that the matter was dropped. 

In searching the court dockets of Cumberland County, 
by the merest accident, the writer to his amazement, 
which resolved itself into joyous gratification, discovered 
this deed : * 

" JAMES KEENEN 

TO THE 

REV. STANISLAUS CERFOUMONT." 

It goes on to state that on the 16th August, 1798, 
James Keenen of Juniata Township, Cumberland Co. , in 
consideration of the sum of thirty pounds, Gold and Silver, 
sold to Rev. Stanislaus Cerfoumont of Heidelberg Town- 
ship, York Co., a certain plantation and tract of land in 
Juniata Township, comprising one hundred and fifty acres 
of land, buildings, barns, stables, etc. , etc. 

This deed seems to be a complete verification of the 
" priest " and c 4 sacred robe n tradition, both of which had 
an actual existence, the memory and locality of which the 
lapse of a century may have somewhat dimmed, but 
certainly not effaced. Juniata Township was located near 
the present village of Mifflin, Juniata County, and the 
priest whose history was veiled in so much exasperating 

Deed Book, M. p. 721. 



85 

mystery, clearly revealed. Whether more Catholics than 
James Keenen had settled in that locality, research fails to 
establish. Old parishioners recall the family traditionally 
as being related to the Very Rev. Bernard Keenan, for 
more than fifty years pastor of St. Mary's Church, 
Lancaster. 

In spite of painstaking research here and careful inquiries 
in Perry County, aside from the tradition, no evidence 
could be discovered which would lead to a confirmation 
that Father Cerfoumont at any time resided on this planta- 
tion, or any intimation for what purpose he made the pur- 
chase. Being a Franciscan, and it being an opportune 
time for the founding of a settlement, both on account of 
the cheapness of land and the increasing influx of immi- 
grants, no doubt he had in view the nucleus of a Catholic 
settlement, not unlike Conewago, Goshenhoppen and 
Sportsman's Hall. The distance from the main artery of 
trade — the turnpike — and the unproductiveness of the soil 
not to allude to the inaccessibility of the place, may have 
frustrated all designs in that direction. The date of the pur- 
chase lends color to the surmise that Father Cerfoumont 
was on one of his periodic visitations, and that James 
Keenen, no doubt a Catholic, came to Carlisle to attend 
Holy Mass on the Feast of the Assumption Aug. 15th, the 
initiative taken then and the sale consummated on the 
following day. 

A strange and melancholy feature connected with this 



86 

purchase is, that most minute search instituted and con- 
ducted by experienced attorneys and local historians, fails 
to establish a legal sale or transfer of this property. How- 
ever, the work is still in prosecution and some future day 
may shed more light on this tradition. 

The other incident fraught with so many blessings to 
our Catholic emigrants, was that Father Cerfoumont was 
the instrument in bringing to this country a man whose 
transparent purity of life, inexhaustible zeal, and heroic 
devotion to duty, not to touch upon his ripe scholarship 
and luminous intellect, made him one of the grandest 
figures in the beginning of this century and acclaims him 
the Apostle of Kentucky. We refer to the Rev. Charles 
Nerinckx, the virtue and faithfulness of whose life is fully 
recorded by Bishop Maes, in his interesting and edifying 
biography of that apostolic priest.* 

It was in a letter dated Conewago, July 20th, 1801, writ- 
ten to his half-brother, Father Gouppi, Secretary to the 
Bishop of I*i£ge, that Father Cerfoumont gave such a 
vivid and pathetic recital of the missionary needs of this 
country, that Father Nerinckx, to whose attention the 
letter was brought, resolved at once to come over and join 
the gallant band of intrepid priests, who did such 
invaluable service in the early church of the United 
States. 

* Maes, Life of Rev. Charles Nerinckx. 



87 

After nineteen years of missionary labor in America, 
Father Cerfoumont died at Conewago, Aug. 2nd, 1804, 
aged fifty- three years. 

REV. LOUIS DE BARTH. 

The death of Father Cerfoumont, left Carlisle as before 
an affiliated mission to Conewago, only that now we find it 
occasionally attended from Lancaster. In Carlisle affairs 
were evidently assuming a more prosperous and encour- 
aging aspect ; success rewarded some of our Catholic set- 
tlers in business and public life ; religious intolerance had 
lost much of its oldtime aggressiveness and virulence. 
The respite was a source of gratitude and thanksgiving, 
and the warmest expression of such a feeling was found in 
the new church about to be erected. The log chapel had 
not only outgrown its usefulness, but was no doubt a secret 
cause of keeping many of the vacillating spirits from at- 
tending divine service. With the growing population, 
there was a corresponding growing desire to have a place 
of worship more in consonance with the prevailing pros- 
perity and more adapted to the service of God. The faith- 
ful, though few, were fervent ; though composed of various 
nationalities were united ; though still of meagre resources 
and attenuated purses, were all the more generous and 
self-denying. It only needed the guiding hand and con- 
trolling spirit of a capable and zealous pastor, to bring 
about the most sanguine realizations. 



88 

The man providentially sent to inaugurate this work, 
not only in Carlisle, but in all the adjacent missions, was 
not only adapted by nature, but endowed by divine grace 
to bring about the most marvelous results. A churchman 
in the fullest acceptation of the word ; a shrewd, keen, 
alert business man ; — the possessor of rare administrative 
ability coupled with the most engaging manners. Withal 
there was found in him singular concentration of patient 
zeal and sweet piety, that could not fail to attract, and 
attract only to challenge admiration and reverence. His 
suave and courtly manners evidenced the gentleman by 
birth, his holy and successful career the priest by the 
grace of God. 

Such was the Rev. Louis De Barth, born Nov. ist, 
1764, at Munster, Germany. He was the second son of 
Count Joseph de Barth and Maria Louisa de Rohmer. 
From earliest youth he showed unmistakable predisposi- 
tion for the priesthood, and the whole intellectual trend 
of his earlier years seems to have been a preparatory 
advance to it. He made his collegiate studies at Bellay 
in Belgium, and his theological course at Strasburg, 
where he was raised to the holy priesthood in 1790. The 
terrors of the French Revolution, forced him, as it did 
thousands of the nobility and priesthood, into exile. 
Unlike many, who were awaiting the termination of the 
saturnalia of licentiousness and blood, he did not go to 
England, the welcome home of the refugee, — but he 



§9 

cast his eyes about to see where a proper field of useful- 
ness awaited the exercise of his zeal. In the fall of 1791 
he came to America, and at once presented himself to 
Bishop Carroll for active service. Like his eminent 
friend and contemporary Prince Demetrius Augustine 
Gallitzin, who dropped the princely title to assume that 
of plebeian John Smith, until legal complications com- 
pelled him to resume his titular rights, so Count Louis de 
Barth, in consecrating his life to God, renounced his title 
to nobility and was known only as plain Louis Barth. 

After doing brief missionary work at Bohemia Manor, 
Maryland, late in 1791, he was sent to Port Tobacco, 
May 12th, 1792, and for a few years labored in that field, 
which then comprised the lower counties in Maryland. 
In 1795 we find him at Lancaster* where according to 
some authorities his parish embraced the whole of Central 
Pennsylvania, comprising 10,113 square miles, in the 
most remote parts of which the meagre Catholic popula- 
tion was promiscuously scattered. Lancaster, with Cone- 
wago was now the centre from which missionary activity 
issued. Lebanon, Elizabethtown, Milton, Little Britain, 
Elizabeth Furnace, were some of the more prominent 
little towns in this vast parish, not to mention the u clear- 
ings" and minor settlements that dotted the fertile and 



* Foin, in his Paper relating to Rev. Louis Barth. in Records of the Am. Cath. Hist. 
Soc, Vol. II., p. 30. 



go 

inviting lowlands and rich and promising mountainous 
districts of Pennsylvania. 

The accession of Father De Barth to the pastorate of 
Lancaster signalized a new era in the history of the 
church in Pennsylvania. A new impulse was given to 
religious life, — a more vigorous vitality to Catholic faith. 
The congregations already existing were annealed into a 
a more compact and concrete, and coincidentally a more 
energetic and assertive body ; the provisional log chapels 
were being rapidly supplanted by substantial stone and 
brick structures ; a more systematized mode of procedure 
was adopted in imparting knowledge of Catholic doctrines, 
by catechisation ; the monthly, semi-annual and annual 
visitations to the various settlements opened the channels 
of sacramental grace ; the contagion of schism and insub- 
ordination, which, already showing its malign influences 
in Philadelphia, was effectually stamped out by an exem- 
plary life that commanded respect, by an eloquence that 
was soul-thrilling, by heroic acts of self-denial that were 
pathetic. With the princely Gallitzin colonizing the 
unbroken wilds of the Alleghanies, and threading his 
way through craggy defiles and tortuous bridlepaths, 
living in abject poverty, — but ever a ministering angel 
of consolation and grace to the isolated settler, — and the 
noble De Barth exchanging his ancestral home for the log 
cabin of the pioneer, leading a life of ceaseless toil and 
hardship in the fertile and teeming plains adjoining the 



9* 

Susquehanna, one of the most inspiring spectacles in the 
church history of the State is revealed to us. In the 
enduring work of these two apostolic men, animated by 
the loftiest ambition, fired with the most beneficent zeal, 
striving for the consummation of the same eternal ends, 
we have an achievement that must not only leave its 
impress on the ecclesiastical history of the state, but one 
that will ever be treasured in the heart of every devout 
Catholic. Their deeds of heroism are still a living and 
hallowed memory ; the monuments wrought by their 
hands still remain to attest the prudence and zeal of their 
conduct, the holiness of their lives, and divinity of their 
mission. 

Father De Barth's eminent and commanding abilities 
were of so transcendent a nature, that in spite of a shrink- 
ing modesty he could not escape the attention of his 
ecclesiastical superiors, nor shun the unwelcome applause 
of the faithful. On January 15th, 1804, we find him in- 
stalled as the superior of Conewago, a position that 
attached to itself both the administration of its temporali- 
ties and spiritualities. The selection besides being a most 
judicious one, was one that was soon to be made memor- 
able by results that surpassed the most sanguine expecta- 
tions. Until now, Conewago was in charge of the Jesuit 
Fathers, which though suppressed kept up the community 
life and discipline as much as circumstances would war- 
rant. His appointment was made by Bishop Carroll, him- 



9 2 

self a Jesuit, and most of his subordinates were members 
of the Society. Father De Barth was a secular priest. 
That the most implicit confidence was placed in his 
prudent foresight, transparent honesty and consummate 
administrative skill, is amply attested by the public 
acknowledgement recorded in the Annals of the Society of 
Jesus, at Georgetown, D. C, which proclaims the integrity 
and fidelity with which he acquitted himself in the dis- 
charge of his arduous and exacting duties. 

His departure from Lancaster led to great internal dis- 
sension in that parish, which at one time assumed an 
alarming aspect, so that in 1806 he paid a long visit to 
the place, placated the rebellious Germans, and re-estab- 
lished peace. 

It was, whilst exercising the office of administrator at 
Conewago, and being brought in closer touch with the 
small missions, that the brick church was built here in 
1806, under his supervision. 

The structure was still small, about 40 x 35 feet, almost 
painfully plain, but in any event a vast improvement on 
the old log chapel. All the same, the undertaking was 
one that must have taxed the scant resources of the few 
Catholics to their utmost, for now they were called upon 
to contribute. The structure was nondescript in style, 
with no architectural pretensions whatsoever. The 
monotony of the two lateral walls, about 21 feet in height, 
was relieved by four unsymtnetrically large windows (two 



93 

on each side). The modest front, Quaker-like in its prim 
demureness, had a central entrance, flanked by two large 
windows. The corner stone by some inexplicable turn of 
affairs was placed above the central entrance, and consisted 
of a plain solid brown sandstone, with the Latin inscription 
neatly and correctly carved : 

Portae inferi non praevalebunt adversus earn. 

M.D.CCCVI 

(' \ The gates of hell shall not prevail against thee. ' ') 

There was no receptacle for documents, coins, etc., nor 
any evidence, outside of the inscription to indicate that it 
was to serve the purpose it did. Of the interior of the 
church we have no information. No doubt it had the 
customary plain wooden altar, plainer pews, and the his- 
toric tenplate stove, etc., etc. 

How and where the funds were secured for this building 
is a matter of mere conjecture. Church records of that 
period have been destroyed, and newspaper files shed no 
light on the matter. 

During these widely scattered missionary excursions 
Father De Barth had the assistance of men, all of whom 
left an enviable reputation for learning and piety. In 
fact, if we view these men in the light of intellectual 
attainments, we cannot fail to be surprised to find them in 
the wild and arid wastes of an unbroken wilderness and 
frontier civilization instead of filling some professorial 
chair in a European college or university. Father F. X. 



94 

Brosius was an eminent scientist and profound theologian. 
In 1796 lie issued a Reply of a Roman Catholic Priest to a 
Peace-loving Preacher of the Lutheran Church (*i6mo. 
196 pp.) ; in 181 3, The Elements of Natural or Experi- 
mental Philosophy, Cavallo-Brosius ; and in 1815, A New 
and Concise Method of Finding the Latitude by double 
Latitudes of the Sun. It was he who gave George Ticknor 
his first instruction in German, preparatory to his going to 
the University of Gottingen.f 

The other assistant was Father Gallitzin, the Russian 
Prince, who in joining the Church, renounced a mapped 
out course that would have paved the way to the highest 
distinctions of diplomatic or military life. The formidable 
and trenchant pen he wielded, the logical grasp of mind 
and vivid directness of style, and his thorough equipment 
as an astute polemic, is in full evidence in his Defence of 
Catholic Principles, his Appeal to the Protestant Public, — 
which not only summarily effected the complete discom- 
fiture of his opponent, but have ever since, by their lucid 
presentation of Catholic doctrines, been of incalculable 
service, — translated as they were into almost every modern 
tongue. His life has formed the subject of a most inter- 
esting and readable volume, by Miss Sara Brownson. % 

The other assistants were Father Egan, who was conse- 

* Finotti, Bibliographia, p. 225. 

f George Ticknor's Life, Letters and Journal, vol. I, p. 11. 

X Life of the Rev. D. A. Gallitzin, by Brownson. 



95 

crated First Bishop of Philadelphia, Oct. 28th, 1810, Rev. 
Nicholas Zocchi* and Rev. Adam Marshall. There 
seems to be little doubt that all these alternated with their 
superior in attending Carlisle, at intervals sometimes long, 
sometimes short, when a sick call imperatively demanded 
their service, etc. The query naturally obtrudes itself— 
how could these men, with their manifold and fatiguing 
labors, their distracting and harassing duties, with no ap- 
preciable time for literary recreation or concentrated 
study, — how could they find time to cultivate the graces of 
literature, follow their bent for scientific investigation, or 
delve in abstruse theological problems ? 

In attending the missions, Father De Barth usually 
went on horseback, and " no one was better known or more 
beloved than Father De Barth, whose coming was always 
hailed with delight. n In later years growing infirmities 
probably more than improved roads, made him indulge in 
a less exhausting, even if more dangerous and expensive 
mode of travel. The two following letters, now published 
for the first time, show the care and solicitude exercised 
in the construction of the conveyance adapted to these 
roads, which incidentally gives an insight into their unsafe 
and perilous condition. The first letter is addressed to the 
Rev. Mr. Byrne, pastor at Lancaster. No doubt like the 

* Father Zocchi's knowledge of English was very defective. His vocabulary fail- 
ing him one day in reciting the Litany of the B. V. M M at Carlisle, made him startle 
his congregation by closing the litany with some hesitancy,— "moutons of God, who 
takest away the sins of the world !*■ He died at Taneytown, Dec. 19th, 1845. 



9 6 

deacon, in Holmes' wonderful u one-hoss shay, n many 
annoying accidents and exasperating experiences, taught 
him to have his conveyance u built in a logical way." It 
was evident he knew that — 

4 ' There is always somewhere a weakest spot 
In hub, tire, felloe, in spring or thill, 
In panel, or crossbar, or floor, or sill, 
In screw, bolt, thoroughbrace — lurking still." 

and therefore gave such circumstantial and minute in- 
structions about this wonderful one horse gig. We produce 
it verbatim et literatim : * 

"Conewago, Dec. 16th, 1812. 
"Rev'd. Mr. Byrne: 

" Rev. & Dear Sir, 

" As I expect to be in L,ittleyork 
on Sunday the 24 of January may be I will come myseli 
for the gig, you are so obliging as to procure for me. As 
the double joints are said to be much better than the sin- 
gle I give preference to the former. They may be plated 
if you think it best. In everything do as you would for 
yourself. As I am often riding on the side of hills, it 
would be best to have the tyres of the wheels hollow on 
the outside. As Mr. Brown f prefers the steel springs I 



* The author is indebted to S. M. Sener, Esq., Lancaster, Pa., who holds the origi- 
nal letters and kindly furnished the copies. 
f Mr. Brown was an old I,ancaster carriage builder. 



97 

am perfectly satisfied to have them so and wish them now 
of steel. 

" Rev. Mr. Neale's gig has several straps which secure 
the body of the gig to the running parts from upsetting 
when the gig leans on one side on hilly or bad roads. I 
saw also that the wheels are fastened to the axle-tree by a 
square box screwed to the axle-tree, and if I am not mis- 
taken a pin goes thro' that box and axle-tree to keep said 
box from unscrewing itself. 

" Be so kind also to get me a small trunk suitable for a 
single traveler, strong and well made, well covered, proof 
against rain, and two leather straps to fasten it behind the 
gig. The box under the seat ought to be movable and 
furnished with a lock and key. I forgot to mention about 
the harness. Brass I have been told is apt to break, iron 
will rust. I was advised to have them plated. This I 
leave to your Reverence, but have nothing done for mere 
ornament. I have seen some carriages here and in 
Europe whereof the steel springs were bound in with 
a rope twisted around the springs to support them, 
as I was told. If Mr. Brown thinks this will be of 
service I wish it done, the more so as I must drive 
thro* very rough roads, over roots and rocks, and am 
obliged to go carefully and slowly in such places. I 
could not go out of a walk for the greater part of my 
whole ride. 

" I have seen some gigs which had no iron bond along 



98 

beneath the shafts. I think it would be best to have one 
on each shaft to a proper length. ' ' t 

4 ( I remain Revd and Dear Sir 

Your Obedt & Humble servant 
[Signed.] L,. Barth. 

The other letter is addressed to Anthony Hook, one of 
the old Lancaster Catholics and a warm friend of Father 
De Barth. It is dated, and runs thus : 

"Conewago, Feb. 24, 1813. 
u Dear Sir : 

" I fully intended to get to Lancaster tomorrow, but I 
hear of so many accidents happening to those who attempt 
to cross the river on the ice, that I must give up my 
plans. I am to officiate at Littleyorke next Sunday, 
and if there be at that time no danger in crossing I 
will send a man and horse to take the gig. Mr. 
Metzger in Hanover is intimately acquainted with Mr. 
Swartz in your town. I will next Friday propose to him 
to accept from me about $360, and give me an order upon 
his friend Mr. Swartz, who I hope will accept it. The 
order will be payable to Revd Mr. Byrne or to you in his 
absence. 

4 ' The balance after paying the gig is for Mrs. Michen- 
felder and Christina. 

" I don't remember if I mentioned to Mr. Byrne to pro- 
cure a horse collar of a large size and a buckle to enlarge 
or shorten it. The horse I intend to use in the gig is a 



99 

stout and able animal. God grant that I may have good 
luck with him. 

i 4 From Mr. Byrne's account of the gig I am sure I 
shall be pleased with it. I am in the greatest need of it, — 
after a long ride and even a short one if the horse makes 
a blunder I am obliged to keep my room. I am much 
obliged to you for the trouble you have taken in 
this business, and shall forever remain as I always have 
been" " Your sincere friend and servant 

\Signed.~\ L. Barth. 

"To Anthony Hook. *" 

The two preceding letters give us a passing glimpse of 
the missionary equipage in the early part of the century. 
A gig that was virtually a chapel, containing all the es- 
sentials for divine worship, such as vestments, missal, 
altar stone, chalice, etc., securely stowed away under lock 
and key ; with straps securely holding the body of the 
gig to the running gear, to keep the trundling, top-heavy 
conveyance from tilting over on those perilous mountain 
roads that even now endanger the most expert horse- 
man. Anyone who has travelled the highways and by- 
ways of the interior of the State even at the present 
time, especially when the " vernal sun sends teeming life 
through nature's arteries" will pardon the circumstantial 
instructions, nor smile at fears that were anything but 
groundless. 

* Thomas Hook was another of Lancaster's pioneer Catholics. 

Lore. 



100 

On July 29th, 1814, Father De Barth was promoted, 
by his whilom assistant, Bishop Egan, to the position of 
Vicar General, and after his death, was appointed adminis- 
trator of the diocese by Archbishop Carroll, to exercise 
" all the authority of the deceased until the Holy See 
appointed a new Bishop. ' ' 

His mild sway, coupled with prudential insight, that 
seemed a characteristic attribute of his character, averted 
dire calamity in the diocese. The seeds of revolt had 
been sown, and a destructive schism was imminent, — but 
the tact, forbearance, magnanimity of the administrator, 
averted what seemed inevitable. His judicious and bene- 
ficent course as administrator could not fail to single him 
out as a worthy successor to the See of Philadelphia, — and 
though both Archbishops Marechal and Cheverus were 
urgent in having him accept, — and though it is claimed 
the Bull of Investiture had already reached Philadelphia, 
he gently, but peremptorily refused to entertain the 

acceptance.* 

His administration, extending over three years was pro- 
ductive of much good ; his diplomacy, mild but unyield- 
ing, holding in check the clashing elements, that embit- 
tered the dying moments of Bishop Egan, and were a 

*" I will not accept, but will kneel down and devoutly put the bulls in the fire. 
Then I will make out testimonials for myself signed in my real name as Vicar General 
and give myself another name in the body of the paper, and then farewell, Monseign- 
eur. Neither you, nor anyone else, shall ever know the corner of the globe where I 
shall vegetate the few years left me to live."— V.Rev. I,. De Barth, to Archbishop 
Marechal, quoted by Shea. History of the Cath, Ch. } Vol. Ill, p. 222. 



101 

source of such grave scandal and irremediable harm in 
the years following. 

After the appointment of Bishop Conwell he retired to 
his church at Conewago, to become again a simple country 
missionary. In 1828, Archbishop Whitfield (Archbishop 
Carroll died Dec. 3d, 1815) appointed him pastor of St. 
John's German Catholic Church, Baltimore. Only when 
the weight of years and the accumulation of infirmities, 
gave unmistakable premonitions that his strength was in- 
adequate to the labors of his pastorate, with unimpaired 
mind, dauntless courage and undampened zeal, did he retire 
to Georgetown College to await with composure and hope- 
fulness the summons that would usher him to his eternal 
reward. " As long as his strength permitted he never 
allowed a day to pass without offering up Holy Mass ; and 
when increasing feebleness took away this solace, he re- 
ceived holy communion daily, till his holy death, which 
occurred Sunday, Oct. 13th, 1844. He died well prepared 
in the Lord, a good and faithful servant, in the eightieth 
year of his age and the fifty-fourth of his priesthood." 

He died attended by his brother, General Barth de 
Walbach, and a few friends. The funeral took place on 
the 15th Oct., and his remains were interred in the ceme- 
tery belonging to Trinity Church, Georgetown, D. C, 
where a plain tombstone marks the last resting place of 
one of the most heroic types of the Catholic missionary 
that modern history in our country can show. 



102 

A strong personality is disclosed to us in Father de 
Barth, where quickness of decision, concentration of pur- 
pose and fertility of resources are most admirably blended 
with true depth of humility, total forgetfulness of self and 
an insatiate thirst for the salvation of souls. A person- 
ality that combined marvelous enthusiasm with discre- 
tion, bravery with coolness, piety without obtrusiveness, 
zeal without presumption, — and above all an inexhaust- 
ible charity, which no failure could dampen, no trial en- 
danger, no disappointment extinguish. Had he accepted 
the bishopric of Philadelphia, — the onerous responsibility 
alone made him recoil from entertaining the idea, — per- 
haps the scandal and schism which ensued could have 
been averted. 

CHAPTER VII. 

BISHOP CARROLL REPLIES TO REV. DR. DAVIDSON'S 

ATTACKS ON THE CHURCH. — THE EDITOR REFUSES 

TO PUBLISH HIS LETTER. — CHIEF JUSTICE 

TANEY ATTENDS DICKINSON COLLEGE. — 

TOUCHING OBITUARY NOTICE ON 

ARCHBISHOP CARROLL BY A 

PROTESTANT. 

Although the prevailing sentiment in Carlisle was thus far 
tolerant and never openly hostile to Catholics, occasional 
sporadic outbursts convinced them that the right of full and 



103 

unimpaired citizenship was accorded them rather grudg- 
ingly by one of the dominant factors in those days — the 
Presbyterian clergy. There may have been a few notable 
exceptions, — but the uniform antipathy was so stern and 
unbending that they counted for little. To them the 
Church was still under a ban ; it was still the target at 
which the bolts of impotent pulpit thunder, scriptural 
prophecy and implacable denunciation was to be hurled. 
The annual recurrence of the sermon against Popery was 
as unfailing in making its appearance, as the annual 
spring doses of senna as a cathartic, manna as a laxative, 
or sulphur and molasses as a blood purifier, with which 
our forefathers religiously dosed themselves. The clergy 
felt, or pretended to feel that the Pope, aided by some 
monarchic and satanic coalition, had matured plans for 
the establishment of the Catholic Religion in America 
and mentally they depicted the exodus of hundreds of 
dissenting ministers, ejected from their pulpits, stripped 
of their livings and sent to starve among the Mohawks or 
Iroquois on the frontier. The alarm was at times changed 
to consternation, when Catholicity effected a foothold in 
some large community, gained a convert or established a 
nunnery. That the children of men, brothers in Divine 
sonship, equal in their spiritual nature, of indefeasible 
right, independent of all earthly power in the domain of 
conscience, each of them, even the humblest and most 
degraded, independent in that sacred sphere, and account- 



104 

able to God alone, were to be looked upon as equals, was 
an abstract truth that could be philosophically entertained 
in private, but certainly not theologically enunciated in 
public. 

But the Church which grew like an undying plant 
under penal laws and ostracism, did not fail to thrive 
under bigotry and intolerance. Moreover the more 
intelligent and liberal church members, looked upon 
these annual attacks of sectarian rabies as they did upon 
the supposed hygienic perils of the dog days. They had 
to come, they had to be borne, they were not only innocu- 
ous, but mildly humorous. The mock heroic attitude of 
irascible ministers hurling bitterest defiance at a decrepit, 
poor, old Pope, thousands of miles away, and with gaudy 
phrase, specious argumentation, illimitable confidence and 
ebullient enthusiasm, proving that this tottering ecclesi- 
astic on the verge of eternity, had sinister designs on the 
peace and liberty of this country was so deliciously ludic- 
rous and picturesquely grotesque, as to be looked upon as 
a most delightful diversion from wearisome hours of 
expounding the sacred text. It was no doubt, more 
an inherited tendency, than a religiously grounded 
conviction that inspired these dithyrambic diatribes. But 
the minister had not fallen from the high estate into 
which Puritanism had hoisted him. He was still looked 
upon with some unorthodox reservations of course, as the 
44 just man made perfect, the oracle of the divine will, the 



i05 

sure guide to truth/'* and when he annually attacked 
Popery, he was listened to with respectful awe. These 
annual attacks, delivered in every variety of key, from the 
filthy ribaldry of some contemporary Thersites to the dire 
vaticination of the colonial Cassandra, all heralded the 
approaching extinction in fire and blood of the City of 
God, which they found as a monster sodden in black cor- 
ruption, with whom there could be no terms in the heart 
of a humane man. 

One of the most prominent ministers at Carlisle at this 
time, was the Rev. Dr. Robert Davidson, who was called 
to the pastorate of the Carlisle Presbyterian Church in 1785, 
and in addition to his pastoral charge filled the professor- 
ship of history, chronology, geography and rhetoric, at 
Dickinson College, under the presidency of the scholarly 
Dr. Nisbet. The extent and profundity of his learning is 
unknown to us, but seemingly Catholicity, or even the phil- 
osophy of history, was a study outside the orbit of his in- 
tellectual range, and he certainly knew as much about the 
merits of hydrophobia as he did about Catholicity, with no 
doubt a preponderating inclination to study the former in 
preference to the latter. " He was disliked by the students 
generally, and some of them took'no pains to conceal it. 
. . . He was formal and solemn and precise, and, in 
short was always the pedagogue in school and out of 

* McM aster, Hist, of the People of the United States, Vol. I, p. 31. 



io6 

school. . . . He had written a rhyming geography, 
which as well as I can remember contained about fifty 
printed pages, printed in octavo. 5 '* This geography of 
which he was very vain, had to be memorized by the 
students, even the acrostic on his own name.f 

No one but a man of such mental calibre and theologi- 
cal oddity, could have issued in Kline* s Carlisle Weekly 
Gazette% the following production, whose quaint and 
comprehensive title we reproduce in full : " The Stgns of 
the Times : ' ? or the Overthrow of the Papal Tyranny in 
France, the prelude of destruction to Popery and Despotis7n : 
but of Peace to Mankind. By T Bickeno (4th Edition, 
London) Epitomized by the Reverend Robert Davidson, 
D.D. 

The epitome extends through three weekly issues and 

* Memoir of Roger Brooke Taney, LL.D., p. 42. 

f Round the globe now to rove, and its surface survey, 
Oh, youth of America, hasten away 
i?id adieu for awhile to the toys you desire, 
.Earth's beauties to view, and its wonders admire ; 
Refuse not instruction, improve well your time, 
They are happy in age who are wise in their prime. 

Ztelight'd we'll pass seas, continents through, 
And isles without number, the old and the new ; 
Fast oceans and seas, too, shall have their due praise 
/ncluding the rivers, the lakes and the bays 

* ■* * ■*■* * % * * 

" The rest," says Chief Justice Taney, whom we are quoting at the age of 77 years, 
" has dropped from my memory" 

% July 29, 1795. 



107 

covers eleven columns of closely printed matter. It cer- 
tainly must have made the geography class chuckle with 
delight. It is a most quaint and ingenious literary and 
biblical production, couched in an archaic and portentous 
diction, in harmony with the momentous subject. Pro- 
fusely interlarded with scriptural quotations, drawing 
liberally on astronomical, chronological and historical 
data to bolster up the theological manikin. The argu- 
mentation is abstruse to nebulousness. The subject itself 
seemed to evade all ideas of perspicacity. An evident 
predilection obtrudes itself of delving in metaphysical 
subtlety and obscure mysticism, rather than allow full 
play of the searchlight of honest inquiry, or be guided by 
the accepted canons of logic. The trend of the whole 
scriptural interpretation, with the Beast and Dragon of 
the Book of Revelations as a basis, — the astronomical, 
chronological and historical data are all marshalled up in 
serried array, to proclaim to an oppressed and yearning 
mankind, that the year in which spiritual and civil 
Tyranny was to have its deathknell sounded, was now 
(1795) dawning — u yea even at the door." 

At the present time the whole production would be 
classed in the category of mild curiosities, — the lucubra- 
tions of a theologically stunted mind, like the acrostic 
arouse a sympathetic smile, and charitably be consigned 
to the wastebasket. Not so in an age when the minister 
was still the visible mouthpiece of Divine truth. No doubt 



io8 

the production would have remained unnoticed were it 
not for the extremely bitter and inflammable tone in 
which it was written. Its spirit would have done no mean 
credit to a Cotton or Hooker, — a spirit which burned the 
Catholics at the stake, drove out the Quakers, sent Roger 
Williams to find an asylum among the Indians, and sat in 
judgment on the witches of Salem and Andover. 

It was the incendiary character of the epitome, with its 
uncalled for aspersions on the Catholics of this country, 
who were just beginning to show signs of life and activity 
after the removal of the disabilities and proscription 
which so effectually hampered their careers, that inspired 
Bishop Carroll to whom the article was referred to issue 
the subjoined letter. The letter without entering into a 
categorical refutation of the whimsical ebullition, points 
out the undercurrent of bigotry and persecution which 
lies concealed in the whole document, — and which was 
liable to injure the cause of Catholicity and liberty. The 
letter is addressed 

"To the Editor of the Carlisle Gazette.* 

u Iviving at a great distance I have seldom an oppor- 
tunity of reading your paper^ but I chanced this day to 
meet with that of Aug. 5th in which you communicate 
to the public your idea of a free press, and inform them 
of the rules by which you propose to conduct it. Every 

* Am. Cath. Hist. Researches, Vol. xi, p. 133. 



ioq 

one who regards the peace of society must approve your 
determination, but should not your rules extend farther 
than to the protection of individuals? Should a public 
paper, supported by public patronage and destined for 
the purpose of political information become the vehicle 
of abuse against any religious society, living under the 
protection of our common constitution and laws ? Should 
this Society, through the medium of the Gazette of Car- 
lisle, be devoted to the execration of their fellow Chris- 
tians ? While with a praiseworthy spirit of Indepen- 
dence and philanthropy, you refuse to prostitute your 
press to the injury of a single individual : and should you 
not have refused to print in the same paper extracts from 
a work of the most rancorous fanaticism, the only pur- 
pose of which can be to raise up hostile hatred and 
violent animosities against a numerous body of Christians 
as dutiful to the laws and inoffensive to their fellow 
citizens as any in the United States. Who Bickeno was, 
or who the R. Rob. Davidson D.D. is, I know not ; but I 
want no other evidence than the extracts in your Gazette, 
to be convinced of the wild and ignorant fanaticism of 
the former. As to the Dr. of Divinity, I am tempted 
even on this serious subject to smile at his theological 
acquirements, who can submit to employ his leisure in 
epitomizing such a miserable production as Bickeno' s, 
and give a new dress ' to the tale revived, the lie so oft 
overthrown. ' I can hardly think him serious. 



no 

u But to return to yourself, Mr. Editor, after having 
disseminated seeds of violent hatred against Roman Cath- 
olics, as forming the very kingdom of antichrist ; could 
you in justice refuse them the rights of defence, and even 
of retaliation against their adversaries if they insisted on 
it ? If they were to offer for publication writings tending 
to prove that Luther and Calvin, and Henry the 8th, 
and Archbishop Cranmer, and John Knox began to spread 
the reign of antichrist, and that their followers support 
it until this day, and share their guilt ; (and I assure you 
that this may be done with much better arguments than 
those of Duumvirs Bickno and his epitomizer) would you 
admit those writings as fit for insertion in your Gazette ? 
In my opinion you would not ; and whatever you might 
now resolve to do, after having sent forth the predictions 
of prophet Bickno and left yourself no fair plea for re- 
jecting a free examination of them ; I am persuaded, that 
you would have reprobated (?) and with great propriety, 
similar inflammatory pieces, on the Catholic side of the 
question. I expect however the insertion of this as a 
necessary animadversion on the author, or authors of 
those injurious extracts given in your paper; and shall 
estimate your fair dealing and impartiality by your readi- 
ness in complying with a reasonable and just request." 

" Aug. ii, 1795." [Signed.] " Catholicus." 

The reply was never published. The motive that 



Ill 

prompted its suppression was more the fear of arousing 
animadversive consequences, than the plea of rejecting it 
on the score of inutility. Had the letter been written 
in the year 1895 instead of 1795, it could not be more 
opportune and apposite, nor reflect the wanton disregard 
of all fairness and decency — a century ago — not even as 
virulent as it has been of late, when the Catholic was the 
butt of the foulest and most venomous attacks, and when 
sheets literally reeking with filth and obscenity, were 
scattered broadcast throughout the country, and smug- 
gled into the homes of pure women and innocent girls. 
This under the cloak of religion ! 

The editor of the Gazette, though not a most con- 
scientious Christian, (for in searching the files of his 
journal, we detect advertisements calling attention to 
the printing office having on stock Tom Paine's " Age of 
Reason' ' side by side with the latest theological tract 
vindicating the " Divinity of Christ,") had not the cour- 
age to print the Bishop's letter, and had recourse to the 
following transparent evasion. * 

"The Editor acknowledges the receipt of the piece 
signed Catholicus. He can assure the writer, that the 
extracts from a pamphlet entitled the l Signs of the Times ' 
were not intended to give any offence to any society of 
Christians whatever ; but merely to inform such as might 

* Kline's Carlisle Weekly Gazette, Sept. 12, 1795. 



112 

be curious to inquire into the prophetic parts of Scrip- 
ture, what are the sentiments of some writers of the 
present day, respecting the fall of civil and religious 
tyranny in the Old World ; and what aspect the revo- 
lutions that have lately happened may have towards that 
event. The Epitomizer made a few extracts for his own 
use ; which being shown to some of his friends they 
desired they might be printed. As to his own senti- 
ments of the work, how far it agrees with the most 
approved commentators, and in what parts it may be 
exceptionable, he has said nothing. He will neither sup- 
port nor condemn it through the medium of a newspaper, 
having done nothing more than faithfully made a few 
extracts from a work which the public is already in 
possession of ; as he would make extracts from any book 
whatever, which he might think curious and deserving 
attention, — as the piece is far from being in the style of 
argumentation, the Editor begs to be excused from pub- 
lishing it." 

Roger Brooke Taney. 

At the same time that The Signs of the Times was 
luridly appearing on the religious horizon of Carlisle, 
probably a very interested party in the discussion was a 
Catholic young man who was pursuing his studies at 
Dickinson College and would graduate in a few weeks. 
The young student was descended from an old Catholic 



"3 

Maryland stock, whose history was almost coincident with 
that of Lord Baltimore's arrival on these shores, and some 
of whose ancestors were not only gentlemen of means, 
but persons of literary culture, having made their studies 
in St. Omers and Bruges, both names, familiar to the 
reader. As a young lad of fifteen years he was sent to 
Dickinson College in 1792. The reason Dickinson 
College was chosen in preference to any other, especially 
a Catholic institution, was primarily, because two young 
neighbors were attending it at the time, and secondarily 
its president, Dr. Nisbet, had almost international fame 
for varied and extensive learning. He gives us a circum- 
stantial narrative of his adventurous trip from Baltimore 
to Carlisle, how an unfavorable wind kept the schooner, 
on which he embarked on^the Patuxent River, laden with 
merchandise and produce, nearly a week from port. Since 
there was no stage between the two points, they had to 
wait until a wagon returning to Carlisle took them and 
their trunks. After trundling two weeks on the roads of 
which we can form but a faint conception, they arrived 
safely in Carlisle. Here he remained until 1795, — and 
during this time went home but twice on vacation, and on 
both occasions walking on foot, accomplishing the feat 
in two days. The estimated distance is eighty-five miles. 
Whilst here he was a great favorite with Dr. Nisbet, in 
whose home he was an ever- welcome guest, and whose 
kindness he always recalled with emotion, affection and 



ii4 

gratitude. His talents already displayed themselves in a 
manner -not only to merit the praise of his teachers, the 
admiration of his classmates, but presaged a future that 
could not fail to be successful, if not brilliant. 

He graduated on October 7, 1795, receiving the degree 
of Bachelor of Arts. Being elected by his fellow students 
as valedictorian on commencement day he addressed a 
vast concourse in the Presbyterian Church " with a brief 
account of the utility of Seminaries of learning."* 

It is not pur province to trace the unprecedented strides 
this young man made to success ; how by a succession of 
brilliant achievements he rose to the most distinguished 
honors in the nation ; what an important part he played 
in shaping its destinies ; and how he attained the highest 
eminence barring that of President, and that in spite of 
factional animosities and political persecution and aboli- 
tionist execration the name of Roger Brooke Taney f will 
always remain one of the most honored in the history of 
American jurisprudence and patriotism. An honor to his 
country and to his Church. 

His devotion to his Church was that of the most devout 
and uncompromising Catholic. " Most thankful am I, that 
the reading, reflection, studies and experience of a long 
life have strengthened and confirmed my faith in the 

* Carlisle Gazette. Oct. 9, 1795. 

f Born March 17, 1777.— Appointed Chief Justice, March 15, 1836. Died Oct. 12, 1864, 
aged 87 years. 



H5 

Catholic Church, which has never ceased to teach her 
children how they should live and how they should 
die."* 

His humility was as profound as his faith, and was ex- 
ercised in even the most solemn as well as trivial circum- 
stances of his life. " Often have I seen him stand at the 
outer door leading to the confessional, in a crowd of peni- 
tents, the majority colored, waiting his turn for admission. 
I proposed to introduce him by another door to my con- 
fessional, but he would not accept of any deviation from 
the established custom, "f 

At the time of young Taney's sojourn in Carlisle, Dick- 
inson College was a small structure of four rooms, located 
in Liberty Alley,— immediately back of Bedford street, 
(in the rear of the present Cumberland Fire Co. Engine 
House,) and was consequently only a few hundred yards 
from the chapel. His attendance there whenever the 
presence of a priest gathered together the small congrega- 
tion in the modest log chapel, is more than a matter of 
mere surmise, since in addition to his strong and vital 
faith, which was the inspiration of his holy life, he 
certainly must have had a personal acquaintance with 
some of the Maryland missionaries, who at this time 
visited Carlisle. 



* Memoir of Roger B. Taney. LL.B., p. 475. 
t Memoir of Roger B. Taney, LL.D., p. 476. 



n6 
Death of Archbishop Carroll. 

It was during the pastoral administration of Father 
De Barth that Archbishop John Carroll was called to his 
heavenly reward, Dec. 3, 1815. The sad news filled the 
hearts of the faithful with the most poignant grief, — and 
all Americans irrespective of political or church affilia- 
tion seemed to realize that in his death the Church had 
lost one of its most powerful champions and the Republic 
one of its most loyal sons. His zeal and sincerity both as 
an ecclesiastic and citizen seemed to have made his death 
one that all lamented, — for it was only now, that the full 
sense of loss dawned upon the mind of all lovers of virtue 
and liberty. Always foremost in the assertion and main- 
tenance of the heritage of liberty handed down to us, he 
yet joined a childlike piety and an ascetic mode of life, 
that elicited the veneration of all who came in contact 
with him. That this influence did not confine itself to 
his immediate circle of acquaintances or local environ- 
ment, is manifest from the eloquent and touching eulogy 
which appeared in the Carlisle Volunteer, (Dec. 19, 1815,) 
and which bears evidence of being written by a non- 
Catholic. It is a great pleasure to reproduce the obituary 
in its entirety, viz. : 



II? 




u Died at Baltimore on the 3d inst. in the 80th year of his 
age, the right reverend Doctor John Carroll, Arch 
Bishop, of Baltimore. 

11 The closing solemnities with which the body of the 
late Arch-Bishop Carroll, was entombed on Tuesday, 
brought together a greater crowd than we have ever wit- 
nessed on a similar occasion. The great, and the rich, 
and the poor, and the lowly, assembled to pay the last 
tribute of respect to the memory of this good and illustri- 
ous prelate. The Chapel which has been so long cherished 
by his fostering care, was crowded at an early hour, and 
the multitude who assembled without, seemed rather to 
indicate that some great public ceremony was to be per- 
formed, than some national calamity to be deplored The 
corpse of the venerable Archbishop which had lain in 
state, since the preceding Sunday was now enclosed in the 
coffin, surmounted by his mitre and pastoral crozier, and 
surrounded by those emblems which unite the fancy with 
the heart in solemn devotion. After the celebration of 
High Mass, the procession moved through Saratoga and 
Franklin streets, to the Chapel of the Seminary; which 
was designated as the place of interment. — We have 



n8 

never witnessed a funeral procession, where so many of 
eminent respectability and standing among us, followed 
the train of mourners. — Distinctions of rank, of wealth, 
of religious opinion were laid aside, in the great testimony 
of respect to the memory of the man. — Besides the numer- 
ous crowd who filled the streets, the windows were thronged 
with spectators. — The funeral service for the dead was per- 
formed at the Chapel of the Seminary ; and the mind 
already penetrated with regret and deepest sorrow, felt 
the effect of these religious ceremonies, which performed 
in the same manner, and chaunted in the same language 
and tone of voice through succeeding ages bring together 
the remotest periods of 1600 years, and present to the 
mind, some faint image of eternal duration. — The deep 
tones of the organ and the solemn chaunt of the choristers 
seemed to the excited feeling, not to belong to this world, 
but to be the welcome of good spirits, who had gone before, 
and now solemnly saluted him, who descended through the 
tomb to the bar of eternal justice, to receive the reward 
apportioned to a good and faithful servant. 

" According to the particular disposition of every one, 
have we heard the venerable Arch-Bishop praised and 
lamented — the extent of this knowledge and the enlarge- 
ment of his mind, fastened upon the men of liberal science. 
The liberality of his character and his christian charity 
endeared him to his Protestant brethren, with whom he 
dwelt in brotherly love. He was a patriot and loved his 



ii9 

native land ; nor should Americans forget that his exer- 
tions and benedictions, as a man and as a christian prelate, 
were given to the cause and the independence of his 
country. His manners were mild, impressive, and 
urbane. The various stores of knowledge came from his 
lips with uncommon classical grace and richness, which 
he gained from a perfect acquaintance with ancient 
languages and literature. His charities were only bounded 
by his means, and they fell around him like the dews of 
Heaven, gentle and unseen. To those who stood not in 
need of the comforts of life, he administered the consola- 
tion of his counsel ; and the weight of his character and 
reputation for erudition and profound good sense, gave an 
authority to his advice, which the proudest scarcely dared 
to disregard. The veil of mourning that hid the tears of 
the afflicted, covered many a heart not of his own particu- 
lar flock, which felt that it lost an inestimable friend. 
The character of Arch-Bishop Carroll seemed indeed to be 
filled up with wonderful care. Educated at St. Omer's, 
he was early disciplined in the exercises of the mind, and 
deeply versed in classic love. Becoming at Liege attached 
to the Society of Jesus, he acquired that spirit of action, — 
that profound knowledge of the human heart,- — that ad- 
mirable fitness for the affairs of the world, which for 200 
years distinguished their order and spread its power to the 
remotest countries. When the glories of the Jesuits were 
extinguished with the society itself, he travelled over 



120 

Europe as the friend arid instructor of an English noble- 
man. Then he viewed the manners of different nations — 
saw the courts of kings, and meetings of philosophers, and 
added the liberality of a true philosopher and, the accom- 
plishments of a gentleman, to the apostolic dignity of his 
calling. — Temptation drew forth the purity of his virtue 
and like Shadrach he walked erect in the flames. He 
early marked the rise of the baleful meteor of French 
Philosophy, and mourned when he saw the " pestilences 
shook from its horrid hair," invade his native land. But 
he gathered his spiritual children under his wings, and 
protected them in security ; and he was permitted to live 
to see a different spirit prevail to witness a great revival 
of religion, and in the abundant prosperity of his particu- 
lar church, to reap the harvest of his toil and labor of his 
life. When he was called to receive the reward of his 
many virtues, the excellence of his character shone out 
with fresher lustre, as he gradually set like the sun in 
mellowed splendor — Death, as if fearfully, attacked him 
with slow and cautious approaches. The paralysis, and 
consequent mortification of the lower extremities was 
complete, before his icy touch, ventured to chill the 
heart ; — and even until the last moment, the noble facul- 
ties of the mind retained their pristine vigor. He enquired 
if a conveyance was prepared to take away his sister and 
weeping connections ; told them the scene was about to 
close, and requested them to take rest and nourishment. 



121 



His countenance retained in death the benignant expres- 
sion of life. His piety grew warmer as life closed, and 
the glow of religious hope was elevated almost to en- 
thusiasm. i Sir,' he said to an eminent Protestant divine, 
who observed that his hopes were now fixed on another 
world : c Sir, my hopes have always been fixed on the cross 
of Christ.' Yet, humility tempered his confidence, and 
while a numerous circle surrounding his bed of death, 
were transported with veneration at the moral sublimity 
of his last moments, and his joyous expectations of a speedy 
release, he called to his friend and associate to read for 
him the ' Miserere mei Deus — Have mercy on me, O L,ord ' — 
Reversing the wish of Vespasian, he desired, were it prac- 
ticable, to be placed on the floor, that he might expire in 
the posture of deepest humility, as a christian martyr, and 
an humble suppliant to an interceding Saviour. How do 
the boasted glories of philosophy fade before the death of 
such a man ! Socrates died with a cheerless and unknown 
futurity before him — Cato's indignant soul spurned the 
yoke of imperial Caesar, and Seneca opened his veins and 
calmly discoursed of philosophy as life ebbed with the 
purple tide, — but it was not theirs to know the hope of the 
christian, which springs from a life of virtue and a pious 
soul, and which changes the tomb into the triumphal 
arch, through which the pilgrim passes into joyful 
eternity.' ' 

\Signed.~] " E." 



122 

CHAPTER VIII. 

REV. PETER HELBRON, A PIONEER PRIEST OF WESTERN 
PENNSYLVANIA DIES ON HIS WAY HOME AT CARLISLE. 
— HIS ASTONISHING JOURNEYS IN THE DISCHARGE 
OF HIS DUTIES. — IN HIS WILL HE BE- 
QUEATHES ALL HIS PROPERTY TO ST. 
PATRICK'S CONGREGATION. — PUR- 
CHASE OF OHE BLAINE LOTS 
FOR A RECTORY BY 
THOMAS HAGAN. 

It was during the pastorate of Father De Barth, that one 
of the old pioneer missionaries, while on his way to Phila- 
delphia in search of medical aid breathed his last in the 
home of Thomas Hagan, in Carlisle. 

But few biographical data are available concerning this 
man, but those few stamp him as a fit companion for men 
like a Gallitzin, Barth and Brosius. Discomfort and hard- 
ship, the restrictions of a language whose unfamiliarity nar- 
rowed his career and circumscribed his influence, not even 
the realization that he was affected with an acute disease, 
which he, not unskilled in the practise of medicine, knew 
fully well would cause his death, — deterred him from 
performing missionary work which even in the light of 
modern traveling facilities, would seem simply stupendous. 
The ready acquiescence and unruffled cheerfulness with 
which he accepted the most toilsome and obnoxious mis- 



123 

sions, with but one dominant thought in view — the Glory 
of God and the salvation of souls, reveals to us the priest 
according to the heart of God. His sojourn in any mission 
was too brief to affix to it the impress of his individuality, 
— but his unobtrusive and unsparing labors were none the 
less meritorious in the sight of heaven and salutary to the 
souls entrusted to his care. 

The antecedents of Rev. Peter Helbron, before his 
arrival in America are involved in considerable mystery. 
No doubt of German extraction, he must have known of 
the dearth of priests in this country and volunteered to 
join the self exiled heroes, who were accomplishing such 
noble work. The first record we have of him is that 
" Rev. Petrus Hulbrun and the Rev. John Bapt. Hulbrun,* 
arrived in Pennsylvania on board the ship Dorothea, 
master, from Rotterdam, Oct. 14th, 1787." He was at 
once appointed to Goshenhoppen, Berks Co. — for in the 
will of the Rev. John Lewis, f made in April, 1788, Elk- 
ton Cecil Co., Md. — he bequeathes all his property to Rev. 
Robert Molyneux, including " all my estate in Hereford 
township, save that in the tenure of R. J. Baptist De Ritter, 
now of Rev. Peter Helbron, Berks county.' ' 

On Aug. 19th, 1 791, we find him installed as the second 
pastor of the church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia, 
where he succeeded his brother John Charles, who returned 

* Penna. Archives, (II Series,) Vol. XVII, p. 532. 
f Records of the Am. Cath. Hist y Soc, Vol. I, p. 158. 



I2 4 

to Europe in 1791. He was of course elected to the posi- 
tion by the Trustees of the church, — but since Bishop 
Carroll cheerfully gave his approbation to the selection, 
the impending storm which proved so harmful to the 
prestige, and mischievous to the development of Catho- 
licity, was temporarily checked. The Philadelphia recol- 
lections represent him as a man of culture and refinement ; 
punctiliously neat and precise in his priestly attire and 
duties ; with a dignified and commanding presence ; sitting 
his horse with a military grace and repose that formed an 
unfailing source of admiration to his flock, and perhaps 
was not untinctured with a little pardonable vanity on the 
part of the rider. This accomplishment, which tradition 
recalls in the Alleghanies as well as Philadelphia, is 
easily accounted for by the fact that Father Helbron had 
done military duty in Prussia before his elevation to the 
priesthood. 

The scandalous and disastrous conflict of the Trustees 
of Trinity Church with ecclesiastical authority began on 
Nov. 16th, 1796, when in defiance of episcopal authority 
and in flagitious violation of its own laws, the Trustees 
elected Rev. John Nepomucen Goetz as its pastor. This 
contumacious act, not only displaced Father Helbron, 
caused Bishop Carroll an endless amount of mortification 
and sorrow, disrupted the precarious unity, then the only 
hope of Catholic success, but laid the seeds for that calam- 
itous epoch — the Hoganite schism. The congregation 



125 

was divided into two embittered factions, — for the encounter 
was more than a mere ecclesiastical passage at arms. 
Father Helbron with the loyal Catholics retired to St. 
Joseph's Church ; — Goetz, the Trustees and seceders took 
possession of Trinity Church. Goetz, though formally 
excommunicated, was still upheld and supported by the 
Trustees. This melancholy condition of affairs existed 
until 1802 when Father Elling and the Trustees made 
their submission to the Bishop of Baltimore. During these 
three years Father Helbron was at St. Joseph's until the 
fall of 1799 when he was appointed pastor of Sportsman's 
Hall, Westmoreland County, the present large Benedictine 
Abbey, St Vincent's, and mother house of the order 
in America. He took possession on November 17th. 
The scandalous misconduct of his predecessor here 
also had not only spiritually played havoc with faith, 
but criminally alienated the church property, which 
only after wearisome and expensive litigation came 
into rightful possession again. After spending the holidays 
with his little congregation, saying mass in a stuffy little 
room of his log house, he returned to Philadelphia for a 
brief visit. The following entry in the mutilated church 
records of Carlisle, in Father Helbron's own hand, written 
in German, gives evidence of the methodical exactness for 
which he was always conspicuous. " On the 14th day of 
May, 1800, R. Petrus Helbron returned to his place sports- 
manhal, in Westmoreland." 



126 

From this we can date the beginning of his career on 
the other side of the Alleghanies. Familiarized with his 
new charge he at once set about to build a home for him- 
self, — a log house 28 X 26 feet, to which the congregation, 
now thoroughly enthusiastic did the best it could, by 
attaching a rude shed to the house, to answer as a chapel, 
until favorable circumstances would permit the erection of 
a more worthy habitation for our Lord. There was a super- 
fluous abundance of wood, nor were joyous hearts and 
willing hands wanting to hasten the completion of this 
primitive temple,— but there was a deterrent absence of 

nails. They were an expensive commodity in those 

days, doubly so in the wild and primeval Alleghanies. 
But this did not balk the enthusiasim of our fervid Cath- 
olics. One of their number, Henry Kuhn, took his horse 
and saddle-bags, and came east over the mountains to 
raise sufficient funds to purchase nails. No doubt could 
the old list of contributors be discovered, more than one 
Carlisle name would be found on it, — for Carlisle was then 
the commerical emporium west of Philadelphia and 
Lancaster, and actually had a brick Catholic Church — 
a marvel in those days. 

In 1810, the first church proper was built. A log struc- 
ture of course, with the cathedral — like proportions of 40 
X 27 feet. It had the luxury of a pine floor, but still 
remained unplastered. 

From Sportsman's Hall Father Helbron made those 



127 

astonishing and lengthy excursions which would seem to 
us improbable, if not impossible, did we not know that he 
was an expert horseman, and did not his military nicety 
of detail, record every visit. In October, 1803 — he visited 
" all stations beyond the Alleghany and Monongahela. 
On Oct. 22nd, he was in Buffalo N. Y. and records 
no less than thirty-eight baptisms in one day. In Sep- 
tember, 1805, he again visited Buffalo and forty-one 
baptisms find an entry in the Registers, for the 26th, 
28th, and 30th of that month. April 26th, 1812 we 
again find him there baptizing fifteen persons on the same 
day." 

In the same year (1805) " he visited five counties bap- 
tizing ninety children, and even then, writing from Pitts- 
burg, he said he would visit Washington, Roundstone, and 
York River before he returned home."* 

During all this time Dr. Helbron, as he was familiarly 
called was on the most intimate and brotherly terms with 
Father Gallitzin, his neighbor. Their mutual inter- 
change of visits was frequent, and at times prolonged into 
days and weeks. We can readily imagine the intercourse 
of these holy souls, their minds fired with zeal, their hearts 
aglow with love of God and man, their every action a 
mute but prayerful adoration of the Providence of God, 
which had sent them into these uninhabitable surround- 

* Shea, Life of Archbishop Carroll, p. 451. 



128 

ings as embassadors of His Word and dispensers of His 
mysteries. Like the Fathers of the Desert, who only 
broke their perpetual silence, when issuing from their 
solitude to pay occasional visits to each other, the moments 
of which were consecrated to the discourse of holy things, 
animating each other with intensified ardor, so these patri- 
archs of our holy Faith sought each other to find solace in 
their tribulation, counsel in their perplexities, mutual 
inspiration in their discouragements. This was done 
not so much as an incentive for mental diversion, as 
to extend, the scope of their usefulness, increase the 
ardor of their zeal, and promote the glory of God. 
Such visits could only accentuate their holy mission, 
and redouble their efforts to reclaim and preserve the 
widely scattered flock of Christ entrusted to their care. 

His advanced age, debilitated body, and above all the 
fatal malady — a tumor on his neck, which once before 
baffled the surgeon's knife, were now giving unmistakable 
indications that he could not enjoy a much more extended 
lease of life. He never received, nor for that matter 
accepted or expected a salary, but supported his frugal 
wants from a small patrimony attached to the parish, and 
the profits accruing from its farm. His patrimony had 
undergone an ominous shrinkage, his experiments as a 
farmer were destined to lamentable failure, — the malig- 
nant tumor was threatening a fatal issue. In this dire ex- 
tremity, his congregation raised a handsome subscription 



129 

for him to go east and seek more capable medical skill 
since local physicians could do nothing for him. He left 
for Philadelphia — a journey of 280 miles to consult some 
specialist. The operation was performed — but was soon 
followed by fatal results, of which no doubt he had pre- 
monitory symptoms. His heart yearned for his old moun- 
tain home, for his abandoned and expectant flock, — and 
the effort to spend his declining days in their midst was 
gallantly made. Divine Providence, however, shaped 
matters differently. 

On his return trip his condition became so alarm- 
ing that he could not proceed further than Carlisle. 
Here, no doubt, he had formed some acquaintance 
during his former visits to Philadelphia. He found a 
warm welcome and an affectionate care in the home of 
Thomas Hagan and his wife Mary. Their home was 
then on East High (now Main) Street, where the 
Henderson block now is. Here they kept a store. His 
sickness was of brief duration, and he died here, April 
24th, 1816. 

In his dying moments, he made a will in which he 
bequeathed all his estate real and personal to Mary Hagan 
in trust for the Catholic Congregation at Carlisle. Why 
this was done to the exclusion of Sportsman's Hall remains 
inexplicable. The following is the will.* 

* Recorded in Will Book H, , p. 390. 



13° 

" I, Peter Helbrune being of sound and disposing mind 
and memory, blessed be got for the same, and being duly 
sensible of the short continuance of this mortal life do make 
this my last will and testament in manner and form follow- 
ing to wit : I give and device all my estate real and personal 
unto Mary Hagan, wife of Thomas Hagan to hold to her 
heirs and assigns (in trust) for the use of the Catholic 
Church in the Borough {of Carlisle)* for ever after first 
deducting all expenses that she may be at in attending me 
in my last illness and the expenses of my funeral : the 
money owing me from my estate to be applied to the said 
Church in such a way as the trustees of said Church 
shall think proper, and do hereby nominate consti- 
tute and appoint Thomas Hagan of the borough of Car- 
lisle to be sole executor of this my last said will and 
testament. 

" Interlineations made before signing 

" Signed sealed and 
proclaimed to be the 

said will and testament His 

of Peter Helbron, this [Signed]. " Peter + Helbrone " 
day of 22nd April 1816 Mark 

in the presence of 

John A. Black, 

W. Ramsey ! ' 

* Words in Italics were interlined. 



13* 

He was buried in the immediate rear of the old church, 
and when the annex was built in 1823, ^ covered both it 
and other graves which surrounded it. No tombstone 
marked his last resting place, and the spot that contained 
his remains, was left undisturbed when the present church 
was built in 1893. The s P ot * s immediately opposite the 
statue of St. Patrick, under the communion railing. 

Though a man of scrupulous nicety and punctilious 
method in the discharge of his priestly duties, the result of 
thorough ecclesiastical training, as much as an outgrowth 
of his military career, in financial affairs, as well as farm- 
ing he displa5'ed an inaptitude and simplicity that w r ould 
be droll, were in not that it caused him much anxiety in 
life, and resulted in litigation after his death. He seemed 
to lack all powers of adaptability to conform to the customs 
and language of his adopted country. European methods, 
especially those in vogue in thrifty and frugal Germany, 
w r ere utterly impracticable in this country with its un- 
broken forests and virgin soil. His ignorance of the 
English language, which he took little or no pains to 
acquire, lead him to many misunderstandings, and involved 
him in unpleasant collisions with those with whom he had 
commercial transactions. A giant in the service of God — 
he was a child in the business activities of life. This was 
especially conspicuous in the singular, not to say eccen- 
tric manner in which he managed his farm. An inventory 
of his estate at the time of his death shows that he had no 



132 

less than five horses, seven head of cattle, besides a large 
number of sheep, hogs and calves. All told, he had thirty 
animals that not only needed feed and stabling and care in 
winter, but which even under the most favorable circum- 
stances would be a drain on his cash account, not to allude 
to the inadequate, even expensive shifts he was reduced to 
keep them alive. The consequence was, that frequent and 
protracted absences from home obliged him to trust to the 
capacity and integrity of others, which in the one case 
was misplaced, and in the other repeatedly abused, and 
naturally debts were incurred which he could not pay. 

An inventory of his estate reveals the fact that it was 
appraised at $1414.19, of this he carried $104.11 on his 
person at the time of his death. Claims came from all 
directions, as they invariably do in such cases. One 
on a note endorsed by Gen. James O'Hara, of Pittsburg, 
amounted to $311.82. The balance found by the Orphans 
Court for distribution amounted to but $325.58^. This 
was handed to the executor Thomas Hagan. What dis- 
position was made of this balance cannot be ascertained, 
although the writer recalls reading somewhere that Father 
Dwen in a letter to Bishop Conwell claimed that it was 
appropriated as the testator directed. Of this there can be 
no doubt, since both Hagan and his wife were persons of 
sturdy honesty, and most zealous Catholics besides. 

The final disposition of the legacy, can perhaps be 
accounted for by a purchase Thomas Hagan made, a year 



133 

after Father Helbron's death, by which the lot and stone 
house adjoining the church was acquired, and which is 
now occupied by the Rectory. On April 16, 1817,* he 
purchased from Ephraim Blaine, the grandfather of the 
Hon. James G. Blaine, a lot 60 ft. front and 260 ft. in 
length, with a stone house on it, for the sum of $800.00. 
Ephraim Blaine was Commissary General in the Revolu- 
tionary army, and a man of means and influence. The 
object in view, in making this purchase was obviously to 
hold it for the church until such a time when it could be 
purchased. The whole transaction reflects great credit 
on the sagacity and foresight of Mr. Hagan. He held it 
until 1820, when on May 20th, f he and his wife trans- 
ferred it to the Rev. Francis O'Neill " Treasurer of the 
Jesuit Society and to his successors in office in trust for 
the use of the Roman Catholic Congregation in the 
Borough of Carlisle." The consideration was the same 
as that of the first purchase $800. 

From this it would seem that Mr. Hagan employed the 
$325.00, balance of Father Helbron's legacy, in this pur- 
chase, the balance being raised either by the congregation, 
or the munificence of the Conewago Jesuits. The house 
was an old stone affair, with a large vegetable garden 
attached, which was usually rented and the proceeds 
devoted to assist in paying the pastor his nameless salary. 

* Recorded in Deed Book DD, p* 23. Dated April 7, 1817. 

f Recorded in Deed Book EE, Vol. I, p. 550. Dated May 2% 182s. 



134 
CHAPTER IX. 

REV. GEORGE D. HOGAN, FIRST RESIDENT PASTOR. — 
THE EXPOSURE OF REV. WILLIAM HOGAN, THE SCHIS- 
MATIC. — INTERESTING CORRESPONDENCE BE- 
TWEEN FATHER HOGAN AND BISHOP CON- 
WELL. — ISAAC BROWN PARKER, ESQ., 
SENDS ON AN AFFIDAVIT. — FATHER 
HOGAN AND CHIEF JUSTICE GIBSON. 

The increasing Catholic population, the formation of 
new settlements, the dearth of priests and the growing 
infirmities of those engaged in the vast and laborious 
field, made it paramount to see that capable, efficient and 
zealous men would come forward to step into the depleted 
ranks. The dire need of priests, both German and Eng- 
lish-speaking, grew daily more apparent, and only became 
more accentuated in view of the stream of immigration 
pouring its thousands on our shores. Appeals were made 
to Ireland and Germany, and were responded to most 
readily by a self-sacrificing body of men, who were fully 
impressed with the magnitude of the task that confronted 
them, but had barely an idea of the hardships and priva- 
tions that would have to be endured. The consequence 
was that many a brave heart sank and fiery zeal dam- 
pened — when the extreme poverty, the small numerical 
strength, the vast distances separating the missions, the 
heterogeneous nationalities constituting the parishes, the 



135 

repellant attitude of sectarian bigotry — were viewed for 
the first time face to face — and the abstract idea became a 
stunning reality. The Jesuits, inured to a life of depriva- 
tion and poverty — bore the ordeal heroically, even cheer- 
fully — but many of the secular priests unconsciously 
recoiled from a work, which they had not unreasonably 
concluded would shorten their lives and perhaps be pro- 
ductive of little appreciable good in the end. 

Unfortunately the New World had already become an 
asylum not only for the oppressed, but for many who had 
the choice between solitary confinment in some reforma- 
tory institution, or precipitate flight to America, of becom- 
ing a burden to society in some workhouse or eleemosy- 
nary asylum, or searching for pastures new in this country 
of the broadest liberty. Many availed themselves of the 
latter alternative. Among the ecclesiastical recusants who 
came to the new country there were found priests who at 
times had been questionable ornaments of their profession, 
and who, having exhausted the patience of their spiritual 
superiors and being at the end of their canonical tethers, 
sought this new country, not so much for rehabilita- 
ting their smirched character or atoning for their flagrant 
conduct as to have a new license and a more inviting field 
to ply their avocation of scandal, greed, shame, and disgiace. 
This, to the incalculable detriment of religion, the irre- 
parable scandal to non-Catholics and the irremediable 
ruin of souls. America became not only the dumping 



136 

ground of undesirable immigrants, but the refuge of dis- 
affected and recalcitrant priests. One of these, and prob- 
bably the most mischievous and abandoned that America 
had as yet seen, whose malign influence retarded the 
work of the Church in Pennsylvania, for more than 
twenty years, at a stage of her existence when a lasting 
schism seemed both imminent and possible, was a man 
whose name is alway inseparably connected with that of 
the first resident pastor, (resident pastor in a measure, as 
we shall see) of Carlisle. 

A new era begins in the history of St. Patrick's Congre- 
gation with the advent of the Rev. George Denis Hogan, 
who was literally its first resident pastor, usually dividing 
his time between York and Carlisle, with Conewago as 
headquarters, if the term may be used, for the want of a 
better. 

Formerly the missionaries from Conewago attended all 
the churches that were attached to it, by a precedent 
sanctioned by custom or ecclesiastical authority, we are 
unable to state. Now they seem to have been apportioned 
off*, and allotted to the pastoral care of duly appointed 
priests. The method had much to commend in it. It 
relieved the priest of fatiguing journeys, brought him more 
in touch with his congregation, to study, feel and relieve 
their necessities, attend to their spiritual wants, and per- 
mitted a more concentrated effort in working for the ma- 
terial prosperity of both church and people. 



137 

Rev. G. D. Hogan was born in Limerick, Ireland, and 
came from a stock that gave the church a number of (some 
of them prominent) priests. Whether he was invited by 
V. Rev. de Barth, who was then administrator of the dio- 
cese of Philadelphia, could not be ascertained. It was the 
latter, however, who sent him to St. Mary's Seminary, 
Baltimore, in 1819 to prepare for ordination. He had 
made his studies in Maynooth College, received minor 
orders there, a sufficient warrant that he was a man of 
intellectual parts, if not ripe scholarship. His studies at 
St. Mary's were brief, consisting of nothing more than an 
immediate preparation for the holy priesthood. He 
entered the Seminary, December 29th, 1S19 — received sub- 
deaconship and deaconship March 20th and 21st, 1820, at 
the hands of Archbishop Marechal in St. Peter's Church, 
Baltimore, and was raised to the holy priesthood by the 
same prelate on the 25th of the same month, in the chapel 
of the Seminary. In October (15th, 182 1) he was appointed 
to serve Carlisle and York conjointly, as pastor. 

His, career here was too brief to permit a proper estimate 
being made of his character or ability. A scholarly man, 
he must have been, the endorsement of Maynooth places 
him on this score, — beyond the range of a doubt or perad- 
venture. The church records prove him to have been 
methodical, precise and neat in the performance of his 
parochial work. The literary remains that have been 
handed down to us bear the stamp of a well disciplined 



i 3 8 

mind, a ready and copious command of unimpeachable 
English and a sturdy faith. Of a vacillating temperament, 
disappointed in the prospects held out, physically unable to 
perform the arduous work of the mission, and above all 
the impending ecclesiastical cataclysm eventually caused 
by his namesake of unsavory reputation and inglorious 
memory, made him yearn to return to his old home. 
Upon repeated application he received his dismissory 
letter {exeat) to return to his native land. This he did in 
July, 1822, ^serving less than two years on the American 
missions. 

In Carlisle he is mainly recalled by the incidents of his 
arrest by one of his parishioners for an unpaid boarding 
bill — which is narrated more circumstantially later ; — and 
by the fact that he usually spent two weeks at Carlisle 
and York alternately, thus becoming more intimately 
acquainted with his parishioners, and leaving a proportion- 
ately better impression on their lives and faith. 

He however entered into historic prominence by his ex- 
pose of the life and habits of his cousin, Rev. William 
Hogan, whose malodorous reputation, scandalous career 
and calamitous rebellion, caused the first and most disas- 
trous schism the Church ever experienced in this country. 

Rev. William Hogan was a priest of " shady " antece- 
dents before he came to this country,— and no doubt his 

* According to Bishop Newman's Diary, he died in Paris the same year ; " 
Parts 1822." 



139 

conduct and history was such that he considered his career 
virtually at an end, as far as Ireland was concerned. 
On his arrival here, he received faculties to exercise 
priestly functions in Albany, and to be near his kins- 
man, sought admission to the Philadelphia diocese. Not 
having proper letters of dismissal (exeat) he was ad- 
mitted conditionally by Father De Barth, the adminis- 
trator. About the same time Bishop Conwell was con- 
secrated bishop, and took possession of his new see 
December 2, 1820. 

The conduct of Rev. William Hogan was such as to 
demand ecclesiastical censure, which was not only re- 
sented by him, but called forth a perfect tempest of indig- 
nation on the part of the parishioners, fanned by the in- 
cendiary harangues of the temporary pastor of St. Mary's, 
which he claimed to possess by canonical right. The 
whole affair is discussed more fully in the next chapter, — 
but it is broached here to introduce some letters exchanged 
between the litigant parties, in which Father George 
Hogan, while pastor of Carlisle, did yeoman work in the 
cause of truth, and unveiled the masquerading hypocrisy 
and perjured villainy of his cousin, in a manner that should 
have proved fatal to all his pretensions. Eventually they 
set the seal of falsehood, and branded as a blasphemous 
apostate a man who like all of his stripe, run their mete- 
oric course in the briefest space of time. In leaving the 
Church, the anticipated secession of Catholics of course 



140 

failed to take place ; in marrying consecutively two 
widows, he took God's punishments into his own hands, 
and in dying a death of despair, he but followed the foot- 
steps of his precursor in the Apostolic college, whose 
memory is held up to eternal execration. 

Bishop Conwell was not the most approachable of men. 
His assumption of prerogatives, not entirely of an eccle- 
siastical nature, readily and reverently accorded in Cath- 
olic countries, was looked upon somewhat askance in this 
democratic atmosphere of liberty and equality. His re- 
serve and coldness and unsympathetic demeanor, more than 
the exercise of arbitrary or dictatorial authority, chilled if 
it did not alienate the affections of some of his priests. At 
a time when Catholicity was in its mere formative state, a 
punctilious observance of all the straitlaced proprieties 
could easily have been dispensed with, and the exercise of 
the amenities of a more fraternal nature, been most ad- 
vantageously cultivated. However this was more the 
result of trans-Atlantic training, than a desire to be asser- 
tive of his dignity or authority. 

In the following letter, written whilst pastor at Carlisle, 
as in fact all the following letters were, Father G. Hogan 
takes the initiative in making a series of disclosures, that 
speedily and summarily brush away all of William Hogan's 
pretensions to piety and learning, and would have sounded 
the death knell of his shortlived popularity, had not the 
obstinacy of the church Trustees, under the glamor and 



141 

thrall of the perverted priest, been blinded to all sense ot 
christian duty. From all that can be learned of the Trus- 
tees and William Hogan, they must have formed an ideal 
admiration society. Never was there a body in which the 
chief received a more effusive and perpetual flattery, and 
repaid it by a more obsequious and elaborate condescen- 
sion. 

The correspondence, while it unravels a part of church 
history not commonly known, — gives a most comprehen- 
sive reflex of the arrogant priest and disgruntled Trustees. 
It reveals William Hogan to us, as a man whose love of 
flattery, inordinate vanity and overweening ambition not 
only unfitted him for missionary work, but already showed 
the unmistakable symptoms of rebellion and apostasy. 
The letters passed between Bishop Conwell, Father 
George, and William Hogan, will unfold the whole de- 
plorable tale and its lamentable consequences. It will be 
noticed that those of Father George Hogan are not only 
written in a graceful English, — but breathe a warm piety 
and fervent faith. 

The first is addressed : — 
" To The Right Rev. The Bishop of Philadelphia. 

" Conewago, 20th of January, 1821. 
4 4 My Lord : — 

44 If mutual confidence had been established between us, 
while I was in Philadelphia, I am inclined to believe that 
certain matters I intended to communicate, would lead to 



142 

some beneficial consequences. But after much anxious 
reflection and consultation, I feel it still my painful duty 
to advise with your lordship concerning the line of con- 
duct I am to pursue relative to Mr. Hogan. Your lord- 
ship may recollect that I mentioned to you, I perceived 
last summer, certain indications in him of exceptionable 
conduct as a clergyman. But my suspicions have been fully 
realized, when last in Philadelphia, by an explicit avowal 
of his sentiments. Without entering into a further detail 
for the present, they are such as entitle me to pronounce 
him unworthy of confidene as a Catholic priest. Of these 
facts, however, I believe I am the sole depository. Conse- 
quently they can be brought to bear upon your lordship's 
proceedings only as ex post facto proofs against him. It 
remains now to be determined by your lordship, whether 
at all, or in what manner, a disclosure on my part would 
serve the cause of religion. We have lived for years on 
terms of the strictest intimacy. His friends are aware that 
I am now in the same house with Mr. Debarth, whose 
hasty proceedings I before censured with some asperity. 
Appearing in these circumstances against Mr. H., they 
will reproach me with ingratitude, with inconsistency, 
perhaps also with interested views. Such obloquy, how- 
ever, I disregard, only inasmuch as it may seem to give 
some colour to their calumny, and render my depositions 
fruitless. But if y6ur lordship be of a contrary opinion, 
the only question that remains, is, in what manner am I 



H3 

to proceed ? If I direct a public letter to Philadelphia, I 
will be deprived of the opportunity and advantage of a 
timely reply, which probably may be requisite. Besides, I 
will be stigmatized as a mere tool, worked upon by Mr. 
D. B. If I were to threaten Mr. H. with my intentions, 
this intimation may enable him before the public to defeat 
the success of my endeavors. Now, my lord, it strikes 
me, that if I were to be confronted with two or three of 
his leading friends, and that we be sworn to secrecy, my 
depositions would prevail with them either to abandon 
him, or be guided by prudent measures ; but if your lord- 
ship views the matter in some other light, I am prepared 
to resign my conduct relative to this melancholy business, 
totally to your direction. I feel I am placed in a very 
trying predicament, otherwise I would not presume to 
obtrude any of the above suggestions upon your lord- 
ship's consideration. It requires very little research to 
foresee the jealousies and angry feelings my conduct is 
likely to occasion in our families at home, whilst the 
unthinking and malicious in the old and new world, 
will show me little mercy. But I confidently hope that 
the Lord whom I fear, will assist and protect me. I still 
entertain friendly and charitable feelings towards Mr. H. 
But my solemn duty to God, will always predominate 
over private considerations. I have now only to add, 
that if your lordship pleases, you may (under the veil 
of strict secrecy) show this letter to Mr. Cummisky 



144 

You have now only to speak, and rely on the ready compli- 
ance of your lordship's submissive subject, 

[Signed.] "G. D. Hogan, 

"Near Abbottstown, Adams County, Pennsylvania." 
" P. S. — Perhaps it may be necessary to mention, 
that Mr. Deborth is not at all concerned in this busi- 
ness. n 

The following is an answer to the above letter, by the 
Right Rev. Bishop Connell, which many conjectured 
might have held out an inducement to the Rev. G. D. 
Hogan, to make a subsequent disclosure. 

" Philadelphia, January 27, 182 1. 
" Rev. Dear Sir, 

u Yours of the 20th only came to hand this day. Your 
immediate compliance with my desire that you should 
return to Conewago, confirmed the good opinion I had of 
you before I saw you ; for I was previously led to believe by 
the relation of others, that you were under the influence 
of conscience, and had the fear of God in your heart, 
and nothing accordingly could induce me to signify the 
wish I had, that you should go back so suddenly, except 
the circumstances which you knew the clergy to be in here, 
for otherwise, I was disposed to retain you for a while at 
least, after conferring and consulting with the Rev. Mr. 
Barth. Considering that you were ordained for the diocese 
of Philadelphia, and entertaining the above opinion, I 
thought it by no means advisable to part with you, when 



145 

state of religion required many more priests than are 
employed on the mission here at present, and therefore 
knowing as you do this to be the case, you cannot con- 
sider me as dealing unfairly with you, when I refused to 
give you an exeat, which probably on a reconsideration of 
the matter, you might be soiry for hereafter, if I had 
granted your request. 

( c The Rev. Mr. ilannan tells me, that if he had come 
sooner, he could have prevented the publication of the 
pamphlet, which Doctor Kelly thought he could have done, 
by threatening to divulge something he knew about him. 
If I knew the worst things possible of the gentleman in 
question, it would ill become me to give them publicity 
to the injury of the clerical order. I did not think proper 
to let Mr. Cummisky know anything of your communica- 
ation ; whatever intelligence I got of what came to your 
knowledge, I should be sorry to reveal or act upon as long 
as you wish it. Send me the particulars, and let me know 

how you and Mr. stand. Write to me by return of 

post. 

" I am with affectionate regard, 

i 4 Yours sincerely, 
[Signed.'] ' ' HENRY, Bishop of Philadelphia.' 5 

In answer to the above the disclosure of Hogan's in- 
tended apostacy and the motives that lead to it are first 
broached, in a letter to Bishop Conwell, which reads as 
follows : 



I i 



146 
Conkwago, 2d February, 182 1. 



44 My Lord, 

44 1 feel unaffectedly grateful to your lordship for con- 
descending to honour me with your complimentary and 
friendly letter, and connecting your authority with its 
divine source, shall always feel it my sacred duty to 
endeavour to meet your lordship's approbation. Though 
your lordship has charitably overlooked my indiscreet 
behaviour in Philadelphia, it is no less imperative on 
me to make what atonement lies in my power. I ap- 
proached Philadelphia with a heavy heart from various 
causes ; whilst subsequent apprehension, (perhaps un- 
warrantably indulged) aggravated my feelings and dictated 
certain irritable language, for which I now in the most 
unqualified manner solicit your lordship's indulgent for- 
giveness. After this digression prescribed by duty, I 
shall now cheerfully comply with your lordship's wishes 
in the following communication : 

44 Thinking me unwilling to go to Philadelphia, Mr. 
Hogan wrote to me, to meet him in Lancaster, which I 
accordingly did. Aware that I was under the impression 
of bad treatment, he imagined that a fair opportunity 
offered of warping my religious principles ; with this view 
he very artfully proposed to me ' to accompany him to 
Bishop Hobart of New York, who would very eagerly re- 
ceive us into his service, and that in a few years we might 
be able to lay by a comfortable provision for life." At 



147 

the very mention of such a diabolical proposal, I got quite 
confounded, which of course interrupted the conversation. 
But after some interval, he again urged it with the most 
crafty ingenuity. I only answered him by insisting to 
hear no more about it ; he then asked me ( if he went to 
Hobart would I then visit him ; ' I replied not ; he then 
inquired i would I speak to him,' to which I replied, I 
might if I met him accidentally. He then observed, l I 
was like all young priests, pious for the first two years, but 
that he never met one, who retained any faith, and that he 
never knew an honest man among them but one, ' men- 
tioning his name, who by the bye was as vapid a fox as 
himself. This antichristian calumny of course I repro- 
bated in his presence. All this I intended to communicate 
to your lordship when I arrived in Philadelphia ; on our 
way he remarked, that he wanted sadly to procure L,uther's 
works. Though I had very little doubts of what he was 
upon, particularly after reading only a few pages of his 
pamphlet, yet to be fully satisfied, I asked him, did he 
since his suspension say regularly his office : to which he 
replied not, even for some time before, and that he never 
would . In the stage, some Protestants from Carlisle, male 
as well as female, traveled with us, who frequently heard 
me expatiate on the sanctified life of our clergy in general. 
But his conduct in their presence was so gross, and so dis- 
edifying, that I was frequently obliged to hang down my 
head in confusion. When your lordship refused to speak 



148 



to me in private, I imagined then it was for want of confi- 
dence, which naturally mortified me sorely ; I came back 
to him and asked would he accompany me to Ireland, if I 
obtained my exeat, he replied he would. This I did with 
a view to prevent him from apostasy ; considering that if 
he went there, the persuasion of friends and remorse, might 
convert him. I however assured him, unless he disavowed 
all notions of apostasy, I would abandon him, and lie on 
my own oars : he then said he was not serious, in alluding 
to the apostasy alone, but in some time after declared • he 
would not officiate as priest, he said he would (knowing 
me not to have passage money) bear my expenses to any 
diocese in the world, I. chose to go to. ' I have stated matters 
in order and even verbally as they occurred, that your lord- 
ship may judge whether I was warranted in deeming him 
unworthy of confidence as a Catholic priest any longer, or 
is there any reliance to be placed on his declaration in the 
circumstances I mention, that he was not serious. For my 
part, I solemnly declare, that I think it was expressed 
solely with the design to moderate my evident horror of 
the act, and I would be qualified to depose that I believe 
he is not tinctured with one remaining ray of Catholic 
faith. I differ in opinion in this, as well as in many other 
things, with Mr. Hannan, that he could prevent the pub- 
lication of the pamphlet, had he arrived in due time. I 
am firmly persuaded (still I may be in error) that it was 
designed as a desperate resource of conscious guilt in this 



i 4 9 

country. I feel sincerely indebted to your lordship, for 
your kind inquiry about my situation here. Whatever 
may be the occasional causes of my discontent, it is my 
sincere desire they shall not interfere with your lordship's 
arrangements. I am content to languish in passive silence 
here for many reasons, until your lordship can conven- 
iently relieve me. In the dispensations of a benign Prov- 
idence, it is meet I should suffer something for some im- 
perfections from which I by no means claim an exemption ; 
I am resolved not to differ with Mr. D. B. upon any prov- 
ocation. His former kindness to me, and correct conduct 
up to a venerable old age, ought to suppress every rising 
emotion caused only by his natural' warmth of temper. 
But if your lordship do still desire it, I authorize the Rev. 
Mr. Cummiskey to show you a confidential letter I sent 
him yesterday, which is a faithful expose of our misunder- 
standings here. I only received your lordship's letter this 
evening. I am preparing to start for Carlisle in the morn- 
ing, which may account for the inaccuracies and omissions 
that are visible in this scrawl. I have not leisure to write 
it over, but will trust to your lordship's indulgence. I 
have the honour to'be your lordship's obedient, obliged 
subject, 

[Signed.'] " G. D. Hogan. 

" Right Rev. Dr. Conwell." 

There can be little question that the work of the mis- 
sionary territory allotted to Father Hogan was exasper- 



i5o 



atingly extensive, and the primitive mode of travel too 
irksome to warrant his continuing in this field, unless it 
would prove highly detrimental to his health and thus 
impair his future usefulness, if not check his career 
entirely. By confining his work to the Carlisle and York 
parishes alone, to the exclusion of the smaller missions, 
physical recuperation on his part would go hand in hand 
with the spiritual advancement of the two parishes, and, 
therefore, he sent the following appeal to his Bishop : 

"Conewago, 20th February, 1821. 

' 4 Content to submit to some occasional mortifications 
here, rather than perplex your lordship in the administra- 
tion of your diocese, is the best proof I can give that I am 
not actuated by a vexatious spirit. Since I was ordained, 
I have attended these congregations nearly thirty miles 
asunder without a murmur. I now find, that consistent 
with my health I am no longer equal to its pressure, and 
therefore beg of your lordship in the most respectful 
urgent manner, to exempt me from attending Little York 
in future. I am perfectly satisfied to attend Carlisle twice 
a month. By remaining in Carlisle from Saturday until 
Monday week, the ride will not distress me, besides I will 
have an opportunity of forming them to habits of piety in 
the interim, which could scarce be expected, if I were only 
to be among them as before, two or three days a visit. 

" Last week I received the following note from 
Mr. H.:" 



i5i 

" Philadelphia, February nth, 1821. 

" My Dear George, 

" Doctor Con well is handing about a letter from you, in 
which you mention (as he expressed it,) that I intended to 
join Bishop Hobart. I don' t believe you have written such 
a letter, as it would be false, or you misunderstood me. 
Perhaps I might have said, that my persecutions might 
almost drive any man to desperation. Write to me by re- 
turn of post, a letter which I can show the public, saying 
that I only said that my persecutions would drive any man 
to desperation. I thought you were the last to injure me. 
You know well if I wished to join Hobart, or any other 
Protestant bishop, I might have done it long since, but I 
shall not sacrifice my faith nor my honour. Are you too, 
one of my persecutors ? Let me know your answer by re- 
turn of post, and let it be what it ought to be. 

\Signed.~\ " William Hogan. ' ' 

" After due deliberation, I answered him in the follow- 
ing manner : 

4 l c I only received yesterday, your strange call upon me 
to retract what I mentioned to Dr. Conwell about you. I 
merely stated what literally occurred between us in Lan- 
caster and afterwards, to justify me in believing you were 
no longer impressed with the principles and sentiments of 
a Catholic priest. If I be mistaken, no event ever occurred 
that will afford me greater satisfaction, neither will I have 
any hesitation in retracting (only as to his future conduct) 



152 

my opinion even before the public, should this be made 
certain, until then c quod scripsi scripsV It appears one of 
your friends has mentioned that he could prevent the pub- 
lication of your pamphlet, had he arrived in due time, by 
threatening to disclose some of your misconduct in Ire- 
land. This I denied in my letter to Dr. C. as far as I knew, 
neither need you be afraid that I will ever reveal what 
passed between us in the moment of unreserved confidence, 
(nothing regarding his character). In writing that letter, 
my object was to reform you, and no matter who may blame 
me, I shall always feel the consolation of discharging a 
conscientious duty, both as a Christian and a friend. With 
the most sincere sympathy for your present unhappy situa- 
tion, I am, ' &c, &c. 

1 ' Before I sent off the letter, I consulted a discreet 
friend, and kept a copy, lest he might take an unfair ad- 
vantage of the words I used. Your lordship can easily 
perceive my motive in replying at all, and in the manner : 
probably if I had seen his second pamphlet I would not 
notice his letter, which is the last I shall ever acknowledge, 
unless a sincere conversion ensues. But (alas !) this I 
never expect, unless the I<ord interposes in a very 
extraordinary manner. In the infinitude of his charity, 
may he avert the consequences to religion, which shall 
be the fervent prayer of your lordship's obedient sub- 
ject, 

{Signed.} " G. D. Hogan. ' » 



153 

u Personally appeared before me, one of the aldermen 
for the city of Philadelphia, G. D. Hogan, who, on his 
solemn oath doth declare and say, that each of three letters 
signed G. D. Hogan, are his production, and that the facts 
therein are substantially correct. 

[Signed.'] " G. D. Hogan." 

" Sworn and subscribed before me, this 24th day of 
February, 1821. 

\Signedi\ " John Douglass, Alderman.^ 

Notwithstanding the above proofs of the Rev. Wm. 
Hogan's religious prevarications, a ludicrous attempt had 
been made by some of his friends to establish an incon- 
sistency in the Rev. G. D. Hogan' s conduct, by advanc- 
ing some private confidential letters ; in consequence of 
which, the following note was addressed to J. A. Esq. : 
" Philadelphia, 26th February, 1821. 
"Sir, 

" I never complained of your showing my private letters 
to your friends ; but I did complain that you showed some 
of them, and suppressed the others, which established the 
purity of my motives, relative to the unfortunate individ- 
ual whom you confessed to me you would abandon, if it 
were not for his present unhappy situation, and who, in 
retort, reproached his principal adherents as 4 a parcel of 
rascals, employing him as tool to accomplish their own 
end. ' The unhappy man was the cause of the bad treat- 
ment with which I acquainted you, and which (by gloss- 



154 

ing over dates and subsequent occurrences) you have 
endeavoured to pervert to the abhorrence of 

[Signed.] "G. D. Hogan." 

U J. A. Esq." 

" Lancaster, 28th February, 1821. 

"About five years ago, the Rev. William Hogan, now in 
Philadelphia, was suspended by Doctor Tuohy, R. C. 
Bishop of Limerick. In a few days after, he wrote a note 
to Dr. Warburton, the Episcopalian Bishop *of Limerick, 
acquainting him that he wanted to see him upon partic- 
ular business. Before he sent him this note, I happened to 
see it, and asked him for what purpose he wanted to see 
Doctor W. He replied he intended to become a Protest- 
ant clergyman, and that he called in person before upon 
Doctor W. but that he was not then at home. I kept the 
above note, and gave it to my cousin Dr. P. Hogan, V. G. , 
of the diocess of Ivimerick, who I believe holds it still in 
possession. The Rev. P. Hogan, and another clergyman, 
kept a strict watch upon him for about three days, lest he 
might apostatize, until I went to Dr. Tuohy, upon his 
visitation, to have the suspension removed. In about six 
weeks after, the Rev. W. Hogan had some misunderstand- 
ing with the Rev. P. Hogan, with whom he lived as coad- 
jutor ; and in consequence of this difference, the Rev. W. 
Hogan mentioned to me, that he would again make appli- 
cation to Dr. Warburton for a living as Protestant minister : 
the result of this threat was, that Dr. Tuohy and Dr. P. 



155 

Hogan had to use extreme caution to prevent the Rev. 
William Hogan from apostatizing then. 

" I am, &c. &c. 
[Signed.'] " G. D. Hogan. 

u One of the R. C. Clergymen at Conewago Church, 
Adams County, Pennsylvania." 
11 Lancaster City, ss. 

11 The Rev. G. D. Hogan being duly sworn according to 
law, deposeth and saith, that the foregoing as stated is cor- 
rectly true, to the best of his knowledge and belief ; and 
further saith not. 

[Signed.] U G. D. Hogan." 

" Sworn and subscribed the ist of March, 1821, before me. 
[Signed.] ' c Samuel Carpkntkr, Alderman. ' ' 

u P. S. In reading the third pamphlet of the Rev. 
William Hogan, I see a reiteration of his aspersions on the 
clergy of Philadelphia, maliciously derogating from their 
reputation as men of talents. It may not be amiss to 
apprise the public, that the learned gentleman's (William • 
Hogan) almost 4 miraculous ' course of theology did not 
exceed ten months ; and that the sermon on the Festival 
of All Saints, which he obtruded on them as his own pro- 
duction, was given him by the Rev. Justin McNamara, of 
Cork, with many other sermons. 

[Signed^ " G. D. H." 

Among the fellow-passengers alluded to in one of the 
foregoing letters was Isaac Brown Parker, Esq., one of 



156 

Carlisle's most prominent and opulent citizens, who though 
a non-Catholic was always warmly identified with the 
interests of the Catholic Church. To strike up a casual 
acquaintance was unavoidable, if not a necessity, when we 
take the mode of travel customary in those days into con- 
sideration. Mr. Parker must have heard the heated dis- 
cussion, — but since the confidential part of it was discussed 
in Gaelic (Irish) and not intended for the fellow-travelers, 
he may have been more charmed by the enphony of the 
language than interested in the burning questions dis- 
cussed. William Hogan appealed to him for a sworn state- 
ment to rebut the evidence of his adversary and elicited the 
following reply. 

' 4 Cumberland County, 
Pennsylvania. 

u Before the subscriber, one of the Judges of the court 
of Common Pleas, in and for the county of Cumberland, 
in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, personally came 
Isaac Brown Parker of the borough of Carlisle, Esq. who 
being duly sworn, doth depose and say as follows to wit : 
That on or about the ioth day of January last past, this 
deponent travelled in the public stage, from the city of 
Lancaster to the city of Philadelphia, in company among 
other passengers, with two gentlemen, whom this depo- 
nent subsequently learned, were the Reverend Messrs. 



* Brief Reply &c. in the possession of the Amer. Cath. Historical Society. 



i57 

William and George Hogan. That to him both gentle- 
men were and still are strangers ; but had in the course of 
the last summer or fall, seen or heard the latter person 
preach in the Roman Catholic chapel in the borough of 
Carlisle, and from that circumstance recollected his fea- 
tures. That the said two Reverend gentlemen on the way 
from Lancaster to Downington, occupied the front seat of 
the carriage, and this deponent sat upon the next adjoin- 
ing seat, fronting them. That during the morning's ride 
in the dark, the conversation of those gentlemen was 
entirely confined to themselves, and was, as this deponent 
is impressed with belief, carried on in the Irish language, 
" This deponent is unable to state what the particular 
subject or topick of their conversation was ; but after 
daylight and breakfast, the intercourse and conversation 
with the other passengers on the part of the Reverend 
William Hogan, became more general and social, and this 
deponent, from attending to his observations, and deport- 
ment, formed an impression favourable to him as a gentle- 
man and a scholar of sound erudition ; and frequently took 
the liberty of replying to his remarks, and extending the 
conversation. That in no part of the journey, within the 
knowledge and observation of this deponent, was the con- 
duct, or conversation of the Reverend William Hogan in 
any manner unbecoming the character of a gentleman, a 
Christian, or a teacher of the Catholic faith ; but on the 
contrary was polite, courteous, edifying and agreeable to 



158 

his fellow- passengers — and certainly at no time during 
the journey did it occur to this deponent, that any dis- 
pleasure was evinced, or any remonstrance, by any of the 
passengers, against the deportment or conversation of the 
said Reverend gentleman. This deponent further states, 
in justice to both gentlemen,* that their deportment and 
conversation was such as highly became their sacred 
stations, and their bearings to each other, marked with 
friendly attentions and mutual cordiality. 

[Signed.'] " I. B. Parker." 

"Sworn and subscribed the jyth day of March, A. D« 
182 1, before me, 

[Signed^ "James Armstrong." 

* One of Hogan's abettors, and one who championed his erratic conduct with 
considerable skill and effectiveness, was Rev. Tbaddeus J. O'Meally. His pamphlet 
entitled " An Address Explanatory and Vindicatory," (Phila., 1824,) covering 81 closely, 
printed pages, only widened the breach already existing between the Bishop and his 
flock. Of course he was suspended, and persisting to officiate at St. Mary's after his 
inhibition was excommunicated. He went to Rome to plead his cause in person. 
Rome pointed out the error of his scandalous conduct, and insisted upon a public 
recantation to be signed by him and published in this country. He made his submis- 
sion, and did all he could to make amends and atone for his disobedience and rebellion- 
andsent on the following recantation which reached Bishop Conwell at Carlisle f on 
one of his episcopal visitations, where he had it published. We reprint it ; it runs as 
follows :— 

" DECLARATION." 

" I the undersigned, Thaddeus Joseph O'Meally, priest of the diocess of L4merick» 
in Ireland, residing for some time past in Philadelphia, North America, understanding 
the perversity of my conduct, by joining to support the schismatical faction of certain 
trustees of St Mary's Church, the cathedral of that city, in usurping the prerogatives 
of a pastor of said church, in defiance of the bishop's mandate to the contrary, to the 
great scandal of the surrounding nations, especially to that of America, and sincerely 

f Dr. England's Work, Section 28, p. 201, 



159 

This, as far as Carlisle is concerned, ends the career of 
Father George Hogan. His last entry in the Church 
Records is dated July 7th, 1822. According to the per- 
sonal memorandum kept by Bishop Neumann, he secured 
his exeat, left for France, and died in Paris the same year. 

As for William Hogan and the schism he inaugurated, 
we shall encounter its malign and deadly work in the next 
chapter. 

AN EPISODE. 

FATHER HOGAN AND CHIEF JUSTICE GIBSON. 

It was during the pastorate of Father Hogan, that an 
episode occurred treasured up by tradition with mingled 
feelings of indignation and admiration, — an instance of 



lamenting my misconduct on that occasion ; and, truly penitent for the scandal 
orignating from that source, I am now anxious to repair the evils I have committed, 
as much as lies in my power ; for which purpose I now publicly profess and proclaim 
to the world, that I have renounced forever the said faction, and their schismatical 
proceedings, and that I have abdicated accordingly the usurped right of pastorship in 
St. Mary's, conformably to the apostolical instructions contained in the brief oi His 
Holiness, Pope Pius the Seventh, of sanctified memory, dated the 24th of August, 1822, 
and imploring pardon and forgiveness from the Most Reverened Father in God, Henry 
Conwell, Bishop of Philadelphia, for all the transgressions which I have committed 
against his authority, begging at the same time from him, or from the Holy See, to be 
absolved from the major excommunication which the bishop had inflicted on me with 
every degree of justice on his part. And I hereby solemnly swear to abide forever by 
the profession which I now make ; and that I shall never, upon any account whatso- 
ever, return again into the diocess of Philadelphia , and that a perpetual monument 
of this, my steadfast resolution and purpose may forever exist and be recorded, I have 
subscribed my name to this declaration, anxious that it be printed, in order that the 
knowledge ot it may be diffused and universally published to the world. 

[Signed.] "Thaddetjs Joseph O'Meally. 

•• Rome, 25 July, 1825." 



i6o 

heartless brutality, on the one hand, and the most humane 
benevolence, on the other. The sequel is almost as 
strange as the occurrence itself. 

It appears that Father Hogan, with the scant pecuniary 
assistance derived from his church revenue, was in such 
financial straits as to be unable to defray the expenses of 
his boarding house account. The two weeks he usually 
spent in Carlisle, found him lodged with a Mr. M. The 
hospitality which every Catholic would consider the 
highest honor to exercise, it seems was the occasion of 
a most dastardly insult on the part of M., — -who, by the 
way, was a man of some consequential importance in his 
own little world — being a constable. His action gives 
the keynote to the sincerity and stability of his faith. 

It was a time when the u debtor's act" was in full 
force — a relic of savage barbarism, which was enforced 
with a pitiless inhumanity, the recollections of which 
should make us hang our heads in shame and confusion. 
" No crime known to the law brought so many to jails and 
prisons as the crime of debt, and the class most likely to 
get into debt was the most defenceless and dependent." * 
* * * Father Hogan was not in a position to pay his 
account. Mr. M. had recourse to the law,— and, serving the 
writ himself, was taking the poor priest to a debtor's cell 



* McMaster, Hist, of the People of the United States. Vol. /., p. 98. For a full 
description of this law in force, see the same work. Pp. 99-100. 



i6i 

to join the vagabonds, thieves and criminals who had 
fallen into the clutches of the law. 

The sight of a priest in the custody of the local Dog- 
berry naturally aroused widespread attention. Street 
gamins, corner idlers (a genus still inextinct) followed in 
large and noisy crowds. Two gentlemen strolling leisurely 
along Hanover street, could not fail but be attracted by 
the large concourse of people, and upon making inquiry, 
were told half- gleefully, half-maliciously that " they were 
taking the Catholic priest to jail." One of them breaking 
through the mob, which made respectful way for him, 
his towering form receiving additional height by the 
passion of indignation which thrilled his very being, — 
he approached the redoubtable peacemaker, made a few 
inquiries, ascertained the amount of indebtedness, paid it 
then and there, and in scathing words and withering con- 
tempt personally conducted the mortified priest from the 
startled and disappointed mob, and sent the constable 
slinking home like a whipped cur. The man who did 
this, and the memory of whose deed is enshrined in the 
hearts of all Catholics in Carlisle, was the Hon, John Ban- 
nister Gibson, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, one of the 
most erudite and profound jurists, one of the most accom- 
plished and versatile scholars of his age. Of course, the 
relief of the priest and the gratitude of his flock was as 
pathetic as the discomfiture of M. was crushing. 

To the Catholic mind, it was more than a mere for- 



l62 

tuitous coincidence that subsequently two of Chief Jus- 
tice Gibson's children — Mrs. Gen. R. H. Anderson and 
Col. George Gibson, U.S.A., became members of the 
Church. The present beautiful marble High Altar 
is a memorial to Col. Gibson, who, in addition to an 
honored and brilliant military career, led a most edify- 
ing life and died a most consoling death. A most tasteful 
tablet of brass, a tribute from the officers of his regiment, 
conspicuously placed in the church, attests the reverence 
and affection they bore him in life. 

Perhaps it was more than a pure accident again — that 
when Mr. M. on his deathbed clamored for a priest — 
though the utmost expedition was exercised in despatch- 
ing messengers to Chambersburg and York, duty had 
called them elsewhere, so that he died without the conso- 
lation of Holy Church. 

CHAPTER X. 

FATHER DWEN ASSUMES CHARGE OF THE CONGREGATION, 
AND CONTROLS ITS DESTINY FOR FIFTEEN YEARS. 
HE BECOMES VERY POPULAR AND INFUSES NEW 
LIFE INTO THE PARISH. TOUCHING OBIT- 
UARIES FROM THE YORK AND CAR- 
LISLE PAPERS. 

Father Hogan's sojourn was too brief to leave more than 
a mere pleasant recollection on the part of the Carlisle 



163 

Catholics, of having had the consolation of a resident pastor 
with all the graces and blessings that are inseparably con- 
nected with his holy office, and on Father Hogan's part, 
perhaps, the not too agreeable impressions formed of a 
country that to him was undemonstrative, inhospitable, 
and ultra- democratic. He evidently never reconciled 
himself to the primitive mode of life, the chronic impecu- 
niosity, the constrained intercourse, which only increased 
the unenviable lot of physical hardship and privation that 
was the heritage of every priest entering upon the Amer- 
ican mission. His ministry, however, had the result of 
forming the scattered and disintegrating congregation into 
a more concrete and efficient body, and of reclaiming many 
who, strangers to sacramental grace for years, and living in 
an atmosphere impregnated with suspicion, if not hostility 
to the Church, had lapsed into a state of mere formal ad- 
herence, — the border land of apostasy. His successor, how- 
ever, was a more plastic character, and adapted himself so 
readily and completely to the new life he was obliged to 
lead, that his career proved a most fruitful one, and even 
after the lapse of more than half a century, his memory is 
held in reverence and benediction. 

Rev. Patrick Joseph Dwen was born at Shrowlon, Parish 
of Athy, County Kildare, Ireland, in 1795. He made his 
studies, both preparatory and theological, in Ireland, and 
like Father Hogan, came here fully prepared to enter the 
holy priesthood. He came to this country in 1821, and 



164 

after a short probation, early in 1822, was ordained to the 
priesthood by Bishop Conwell, being one of the first 
aspirants that he raised to that dignity. Immediately 
after his ordination, the departure of Father Hogan caus- 
ing a vacancy, he was appointed to succeed him as pastor 
of Carlisle and York. He came to Carlisle, July 20, 1822. 
A better selection could hardly have been made. Phys- 
ically a man of athletic build and vigorous constitution, 
full of youthful enthusiasm and unquenchable zeal, the 
arduous labors and wearisome journey ings of the mission 
were a mere bagatelle to him. Endowed with magnetic 
social qualities, always scrupulously exercised within the 
limits of gentlemanly propriety, — bubbling over with scin- 
tillating Hibernian wit, which never overstepped the 
borders of priestly decorum, he was readily admitted to 
Carlisle society, in which he was looked upon as both an 
acquisition and an ornament. Filled with a broad charity, 
which disarmed intolerance, silenced sectarian asperities, 
gained the hearts of all, — he became a potent factor in 
creating a more intelligent comprehension of the Church 
and broadening the lines of Christian fellowship. His 
social intercourse without obtruding the spirit of polemics 
or controversy, — softened the erroneous and unjust im- 
pressions harbored in the hearts of many, impressions 
which could not have been dislodged by any other medium. 
Without deviating one tittle from the allegiance he owed 
his Church, or sacrificing even a shadow of the dignity due 



i65 

his exalted calling, by his scholarly, at times half jocular 
badinage and his agreeable, but always circumspect de- 
portment, he gained the goodwill and hearts of all who 
came in contact with him. It was by these suave and 
engaging methods more than theological wranglings or 
pulpit hot-shot, that he moulded public opinion with rare 
tact and diplomacy, so that a most liberal, humane, chari- 
table feeling leavened the entire religious community. 
Carlisle's reputation at this time was not only that 
of the centre of social life, intellectual activity, broad 
culture, — but the most liberal and tolerant views on 
religion. 

Father Dwen at once realized that to make his work 
effective and enduring, he would be obliged to be in close 
communication with his people. With this object in 
view, he had the congregations of York and Carlisle 
detached from Conewago, and apportioned as one 
parish. This without for a moment rupturing the 
pleasant intercourse with the mother house, — which con- 
tinued to feel and show unabated interest in the wel- 
fare of its old affiliations, and gave every aid to the new 
pastor. 

It was with this object in view Father Dwen effected a 
permanent settlement in Carlisle, and established his home 
about a block from the church, occupying the house now 
numbered 66 on East Pomfret St., the property then be- 
longing to Barney Carney. Here he lived for many years. 



i66 

His domestic arrangements at that time were presided 
over by his sister Anastasia, who marrying James Kiernan, 
(July 22, 1828,) was succeeded by a facetious character 
named Biddy Logue, who following the matrimonial 
precedent established in the modest ecclesiastical house- 
hold — soon became the wife of a Mr. Sommerville. 

Serving Carlisle and York conjointly, Father Dwen 
usually alternated between the two places, devoting two 
weeks to each. The presence of an active priest, with 
attractive social qualities and no little eloquence as a 
preacher, soon made itself felt, — and the little church 
was uncomfortably filled on the Sundays he spent in 
Carlisle, so that the necessity of enlarging soon became 
an imperative duty. In 1823, as w ^l ^ e seen later, 
the attempted enlargement began, only to end in 
discord, disruption and litigation. By the rights vested 
in Trustees, by the laws and customs of those days, 
Father Dwen was powerless to act, — though an inflexible 
determination and resolute purpose on his part to 
bring an end to the parochial broil, — of which more 
shall be heard,— would have been highly conducive 
to the peace of the congregation and the authority 
of the pastor. However, the annex to the Church was 
finally completed and dedicated in August, 1825, by 
Bishop Conwell, assisted by Rev. Bernard Keenan, 
Lancaster, Pa., Father Dwen, and presumably some 
of the Conewago fathers. 



i6 7 

The social qualities of the new pastor, his intimate 
associations with the more intelligent portion of non- 
Catholics, had the result of forming a new clientage which 
was both a friend to the pastor and an aid to the Church. 
This was seen in 1828 when Father Dwen took an active 
and successful part in forming the ( l Catholic Association 
of America" in Carlisle, enlisting the lively sympathy 
and generous cooperation of its most prominent citizens, 
who being almost all of Irish extraction, though not 
Catholics, were equally impelled by motives of patriotism, 
to assist in wresting Catholic Emancipation from reluctant 
and tyrannous England. A separate chapter details this 
incident of local history. 

After this no incident worthy of note occured in Carlisle 
during his pastorate. The congregation under his wise ad- 
ministration and prudent foresight, became unified and zeal- 
ous. The rising generation for the first time received that 
methodic instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice, that 
could not fail to lay the foundation for its future permanency 
and stability and make it a worthy exponent of its higher 
life and more lofty spiritual aims. The absence of this 
proper initiation into Catholic teachings, while it seemed 
to affect the adult population to no appreciable extent, — 
for with them the foundation of faith was laid deep and 
strong, — had a most disastrous effect on the youthful por- 
tion of the small flock. Nor should we underestimate the 
potent influence exercised by Father Dwen on those at 



1 68 

variance with Catholic faith. His intellectual endow- 
ments, his executive capacity, his force of character, his 
singleness of purpose, his unselfish devotion to his arduous 
work, left an impression that gained the admiration of all, 
and reflected a most flattering light on the priesthood. 
With such a leader Catholicity could not fail to gain the 
respect of even those whose church affiliation diverged 
most widely from it, and at the same time the heartiest 
recognition of its grateful children. 

About the year 1830, Father Dwen changed his resi- 
dence to York. This was no doubt rendered imperative 
by its increasing Catholic population and the more success- 
ful strides it had made in industrial prosperity. But his 
attachment for Carlisle was ever strong and sincere. With 
a regularity that knew no interruption, and a zeal that 
showed no moderation, he paid his fortnightly visit to 
Carlisle ; the inclemency of the weather, the execrable 
condition of the roads, the premonitory symptoms of im- 
paired health, could not check his ardor nor cool his sense 
of duty. Sick calls, especially, were responded to with a 
cheerful alacrity, though covering a territory of thirty or 
forty miles, and more than aught else pointed out the true 
shepherd of his flock. His management of the York 
parish proved him to have been a man of piety and tact. 
The congregation there had a strong contingent of Ger- 
mans, and not being familiar with their language or cus- 
toms, it is a matter of much surprise how he made the 



169 

national foibles and jealousies obliterate themselves, when 
the practice of their faith was concerned. The harmony 
and good feeling that prevailed was as much the result of 
the holy example he gave as that of exercising a discre- 
tionary tact and conciliatory prudence that could not 
fail to arouse admiration and enkindle affection. With 
his mixed congregation united he had no difficulty in 
making church improvements. When he enlarged his 
church in 1832, by an addition of 15 feet, the work 
was not only speedily accomplished, but promptly paid 
for. 

After his removal to York, he usually made his home 
while in Carlisle with Mrs. P. Gillen, where a most moth- 
erly hospitality awaited him, and where he always found 
that affectionate care and gentle ministration, when the 
ravages of sickness were undermining his rugged con- 
stitution, that gave it the warmth and comfort of a 
home. 

Late in 1837 his health showed alarming indications of 
enfeeblement, which, while it caused anxiety to his friends, 
seemed to affect him very little. Unmindful of the injunc- 
tions of his physician, disregarding the stronger evidence 
of his malady's encroachment, he labored on with a cour- 
age that can only be called foolhardy. With prudence on 
his part, a cessation of his wearying journeys, and a care- 
ful compliance with the simplest hygienic laws, he might 
have been spared many years of usefulness and attained a 



170 

ripe age. But with indomitable zeal there was found 
blended in his character a dogged obstinacy, which derided 
all fears and lent a deaf ear to all kind remonstrance. On 
February 3d, 1838, he officiated at Carlisle for the last time 
— and it was to be the last time that he would ever see it. 
His condition was such that he was obliged to be relieved 
of the work of attending Carlisle, in the hopes that by 
confining his labors to York alone, his recuperative powers, 
which had sustained him through a career of hardship, 
worry, and privation, would again assert themselves as 
they had done often before. His hopes were delusive and 
his illness was rapidly assuming a fatal termination, which 
finally came on February 7th, 1838. 

The death was a sore blow to his people, whom he served 
with the most fatherly care and unswerving fidelity for 
more than fifteen years. His many virtues as a priest 
gained him the affectionate and enduring love of his 
flock : his manliness of character and rare social traits 
commanded the esteem of all whom he came in contact 
with. His early death was a heavy loss to the diocese, at 
a time when more than ever there was a crying demand 
for priestly ministration. To the present day, the name of 
Father Dwen is still a hallowed memory, one that invaria- 
bly evokes with its recollection an affectionate eulogy on the 
part of non-Catholics, and a devout prayer on that of his 
old flock. 

He was buried under St. Patrick's Church, York, Pa., 



171 

where a neat, but modest tombstone perpetuates his mem- 
ory in the following inscription : 

IN MEMORIAM 

REV. PAJRICII J. DWEN 

PASTOR ISTIUS CONGREGATIONS 

MIGRAVIT AD DOMINUM VII. FEB. 

ANNO SALUTIS MDCCCXXXVIII. 

>ETATE SUA XLIII. 

ERECTED BY THE CONGREGATION. 

(In Memory of Rev. Patrick J. Dwen, Pastor of this 
Congregation, Who went to his eternal reward Feb. 7, In 
the Year of Grace 1838, In the 43d year of his age. Erected 
by the Congregation.) 

The following obituary notice appeared in the York 
Gazette .•* ' c In being called on to record the death of Rev. 
Mr. Dwen, eulogy and panegyric seem superfluous, for, as 
the Pastor and Shepherd of his flock, his actions and deeds 
of charity are npt written upon sand, but stand engraven 
upon the hearts of his parishioners. Fifteen years of his 
ecclesiastical life have been given to the people of his 
Church in the County of York, and whether among the 
rich or poor he was ever to be found ministering to the 
spiritual or temporal wants of his congregation. Amia- 
bility of deportment, polished manners, and perfect charity 
of feeling, have ever marked him out as the friend of man, 
as the companion of those who assented to his faith, or 

* February 23d, 1838. 



172 

of those who may have differed from him in matters of 
religion. 

" Beloved and regretted by all, he has passed from a 
world of care and temptation and trial, and gone to that 
haven of rest, prepared for the righteous c who shall in- 
herit the Kingdom of God.' " 

A still more touching tribute, couched in terms both 
warm and^ eloquent, is the following, which appeared in 
the Carlisle American Volunteer, March 29, 1838, from a 
Protestant source, and which voiced the sentiments of non- 
Catholics about a man whom they all learned to revere 
and love. 

" THE LATE REV. PATRICK J. DWBN. 

" MESSRS. Editors : I observe by the late papers that 
this unobtrusive man, exemplary citizen and pious divine, 
has 4 paid the debt of nature ' and ' been gathered to his 
fathers,' while in the meridian of life and in the midst of 
his usefulness. For the past fifteen years he officiated as 
the Pastor of the Roman Catholic congregations of York 
and Carlisle, during which period he labored zealously 
and efficiently to promote both the spiritual and temporal 
welfare of the flocks committed to his charge. While he 
1 pursued the even tenor of his way ' in inculcating and 
enforcing the doctrines of that church, in which he was 
educated and brought up, and impressing on his hearers 
the necessity of pursuing a strictly virtuous and religious 



173 

life, he never gave offense to his dissenting brethren by 
assailing their different creeds or religious opinions. Un- 
assuming in his manners, amiable in his disposition, 
courteous in his intercourse with his fellow-citizens, and 
his hand ever ready to extend relief to the suffering, he 
gained the esteem not only of his own flock, but of many 
Protestants with whom he had become acquainted, among 
whom was the humble writer of this brief obituary notice. 
He obeyed with alacrity the numerous calls of his congre- 
gation, at all hours, at all places, and under all circum- 
stances, whether through tempests or calms, to administer 
the rites of his Church to the sick and dying. In thus 
obeying the calls of duty, which was in strict accordance 
with his own benevolent disposition, he but too frequently 
exposed himself to the l pelting of the pitiless storm,' 
and thereby contracted a disease which gradually brought 
him from hence to another and better land. The deceased 
was a finished scholar, and well versed in the voluminous 
writings of the fathers and luminaries of the Church, but 
like too many other divines, he was no pedant, and it was 
therefore only those who were on terms of the strictest 
friendship and intimacy with him, that could properly 
appreciate his merits and talents. Being a native of the 
1 Emerald Isle,' and seeing and feeling the oppression of his 
country and countrymen, he became a naturalized citizen 
of his adopted country as soon as circumstances would 
permit, and upon all proper occasions exeicised the in- 



174 

estimable right of suffrage, always supporting those whom 
he believed to be the most meritorious and competent 
candidates for public favor. It will no doubt be gratifying 
to his numerous friends here, as it certainly was to me, to 
know that his remains were attended to the silent tomb in 
the following order, as given in the York Gazette : 

The Clergy. 

Body — Borne by Bight Carriers. 

Mourners and Pall-Bearers. 

Officers of the Borough and Strangers. 

Females. 

The Congregation and Citizens. 

" The body arriving at the church was placed upon a 
form covered over with white linen and having on it twelve 
tapers. During the celebration of the Mass the coffin 
remained open— the body was clothed with the dress of 
the priesthood, with white vestments. Mass was celebrated 
by the Rev. Mr. Maher, of Harrisburg, and the sermon 
and panegyric were delivered by the Rev. Mr. Dougherty, 
of Conewago. The discourse of Rev. Mr. Dougherty drew 
forth tears from every eye and sighs from every bosom. 
The panegyric was short, but it told all that could be told 
of the virtues and merits of the deceased. He spoke elo- 
quently of the charities and kindness of Mr. Dwen, and of 
his humble and Christian deportment throughout life. 
After the Mass and Gospel had been read the priests went 
to the sacristy and laid aside their vestments and returned 



x 75 

to perform the last offices for the dead. The obsequies 
being over the body was deposited in a vault prepared for 
it at the entrance into the sanctuary. The ceremonies 
throughout were impressive and solemn. The number of 
persons present could not have been less than two thousand 
in and around the church. 

[signed.] " Fiat Justitia." 

The words of the Apostle — " Mihi mori lucrum" — u for 
me to die is gain," would have made a most fitting epitaph 
for Rev. P. J. Dwen. 

CHAPTER XL 

THE HOGAN SCHISM — ITS DISASTROUS EFFECT ON THE 
CHURCH — THE HOGANITES HAVE THEIR BILL PASSED BY 
THE STATE LEGISLATURE — GOV. HIESTER VETOES 
IT — THE CARLISLE CONGREGATION TAKES AN 
ACTIVE PART IN UPHOLDING LEGITI- 
MATE AUTHORITY — THE " RELIGIOUS 
QUESTION " IN POLITICS. 

In a cursory way we touched upon the disorder and 
scandal caused by the usurpation of ecclesiastical author- 
ity on the part of the Trustees of Trinity Church, Phila- 
delphia, in arbitrarily ousting Father Helbron and violating 
all canonical laws by installing Goetz in his place. The 
temporary success, then still a sad recollection in the 



176 • 

memory of living man, and the aftermath of the soul- 
blighting conflict — for the scandal struck hard and deep — 
was apparently dying out, but there remained the smould- 
ering embers of the old-timed disaffection, which only 
needed a crafty leader to make him a veritable firebrand in 
stirring the old rancor and animosity into a state of frenzied 
fierceness. It was the old story of lay pretension, bolstered 
by recalcitrant priests, autocratically dictatorial and blindly 
obstinate, arrayed against lawful ecclesiastical authority, 
tenacious of its prerogatives, unyielding in its maintenance 
of them, guarding its ancient immunities as a sacred trust 
that could not be tampered with. The brooding spirit of 
contumacy, openly and publicly renouncing allegiance to 
the Church, and antagonizing her authority in the spiritual 
domain, was not the new product of a new country. 
The battle had been waged and fought in every country 
where Christianity sought an asylum. She never issued 
from the conflict with trailing colors, nor would she do so 
in this instance. Only blind fanaticism and overweening 
vanity thought otherwise. To the Catholic they were try- 
ing and disheartening moments, but he knew the Church 
would issue from the conflict unscathed, purified, and her 
prestige more assured than before. 

It was at the instance of Rev. George D. Hogan, whose 
career we have just touched upon, that his cousin, Rev. 
William Hogan, came to this country from Iyimerick, Ire- 
land. After settling in New York (Albany) for a short 



177 

time, upon the urgent representations of this relative, he 
was provisionally admitted to the Philadelphia Diocese. 

Hogan was a man of conspicuously handsome person, of 
most suave and engaging manners, with rare and charm- 
ing conversational gifts, a ready and eloquent preacher, a 
man who, could he have curbed a most inordinate vanity 
and passionate ambition, would have been on the highway 
to ecclesiastical preferment. His egotism and pride were 
unduly encouraged and pampered by an adulatory host of 
laymen who, whilst they admired his brilliant intellectual 
attainments, were blind to the absence of those virtues 
that more than aught else constitute the ideal priest.. His 
conduct towards his Bishop, who lived in the same house 
with him — St. Mary's being the Cathedral church — was 
overbearing and disrespectful, though he was a mere object 
of sufferance in the diocese. When pride and vanity gave 
way to taunts and insults, of which his superior was the 
object and victim, the result looked ominous. But when 
finally he lent himself, the willing tool of the Trustees, to 
inveigle the faithful from their allegiance and make them 
hostile to their Bishop, and even alienate the church prop- 
erty to hold it themselves, then the outcome could readily 
be anticipated. The Bishop's course was prudent, tem- 
pered with mildness and forbearance— the battle waged 
against him, fierce, brutal, relentless. The story is too 
lengthy and too irrelevant for the scope of this work — 
fnrther than showing the prompt and decisive action taken 



178 

by the Carlisle congregation in upholding legitimate 
authority and vindicating the imperilled rights of the 
Church. Suffice it to state, however, that the Hoganites 
were daily drifting further and further from their Catholic 
moorings, until the line of demarcation between rampant 
heresy and loyal faith could no longer be distinguished. 
The attitude of these men against lawful authority was 
so stubbornly belligerent, so relentlessly acrimonious and 
so ruinously disastrous to faith and morals, that Bishop 
Conwell was at last compelled, by sheer stress of circum- 
stances, to formally and publicly excommunicate Hogan 
and his abettors. Undeterred, the Trustees took possession 
of the church, drove away the Bishop, installed Hogan as 
pastor, and by this formal secession established an indepen- 
dent Catholic Church. New York, Norfolk, and Charles- 
ton, had in the meantime become tainted with these schis- 
matical tendencies, always zealously propagated by the 
redoubtable Trustee, until it seemed the contagion would 
permeate the greater part of the ecclesiastical body. Not 
satisfied with this internecine strife, the courts were in- 
voked and the legislature appealed to, to sustain the schis- 
matics in their war of disruption. On March 20, 1823, a 
bill was introduced, passing both houses with mysterious 
celerity, giving a legal status to the Hoganites. Rabid 
fanaticism and frenetic bigotry could hardly wish for more. 
The bill was entitled u A Supplement to an act entitled, 
An act to incorporate the members of the religious society 



i 7 9 

of Roman Catholics belonging to the congregation of St. 
Mary's Church, in the city of Philadelphia, passed the 
thirteenth day of September, one thousand seven hundred 
and eighty-eight." 

The bill was more insidious in its construction than 
sweeping in its enactments. As we saw, the church was 
incorporated in 1788 by the legislature, and the charter of 
incorporation provides that the officiating pastor should be 
"duly appointed," This was the source of contention. 
Those who petitioned for an alteration in the charter, 
alleged that its proper construction if it did not assert the 
right of the pew-holders of the congregation to elect their 
pastor, as is done in other churches, was at least extremely 
doubtful, and therefore called for the interposition of the 
legislature to clear away the doubt, and make that certain 
by legislative enactment which was obscure. 

The church authorities, on the other hand, maintained 
that the meaning of the words " duly appointed" was too 
obvious to admit of even a shadow of doubt ; that it had 
reference to the immemorial custom in the Church, unde- 
niable and incontrovertible, which invests the appointing 
power in the Bishop, and the obedience of the priests was 
a matter of Church discipline which the Church never 
deviated from. 

The petitioners then took the characteristically Protes- 
tant view, and here the animus of their action became 
apparent, that it was contrary to the genius of our insti- 



i8o 

tutions and diametrically opposed to our laws to admit 
foreign jurisdiction over the property and conduct of 
American citizens, — that the refusal would be an implied 
recognition of papal authority in the State of Pennsylvania, 
inasmuch as in that event the Pope would continue to 
appoint the Bishop, and the Bishop the priest, and that 
both would thunder their fulminations and excommunica- 
tions against every dissenting Catholic. On the other 
hand it was urged, that the alteration would be impolitic 
in the extreme, — that the States of the Union were em- 
phatically the protectors of religion, and that its constitu- 
tion recognized the rights of conscience and universal 
toleration ; — that by holding out this inducement with 
others, her shores had become the refuge of the oppressed 
and the asylum of the persecuted ; and that it would be 
more than deliberate cruelty to allure and seduce from 
foreign countries and then abandon to religious persecu- 
tion the victims enticed. 

Most cunningly framed, this bill would have made the 
clergy the tools of the Trustees, — altered the charter with- 
out the full consent of the congregation, disturbed and 
subverted fundamental articles of faith in contravention 
of Catholic practices. In short, it invested the Trustees 
with plenipotentiary powers as far as the government of 
the temporalities, appointment of pastors was concerned, 
— and delivered the Church, a fettered and manacled vic- 
tim, into their hands. At this date it is a matter of sur- 



i8i 

prise how perversity and obtuseness could go to such dire- 
ful extremes, and were it not that it is a matter of historical 
record would stagger belief. Fortunately, Governor Joseph 
Hiester gave the agitation a momentary quietus by his 
strong and timely veto of March 27, 1823. 

The Catholics in the State could not remain apathetic 
with such a calamity facing the Church. Before the pas- 
sage of the bill, petitions rained in upon the legislature, 
and every means adopted to have it suppressed. Now that 
the Governor of the State came to their aid and cham- 
pioned the cause of justice and religious liberty, their 
hearts naturally went out to him in expressions of grati- 
tude that would seem extravagant to those unaware of the 
consequences involved and the calamities averted, Car- 
lisle and Lancaster were the first to grasp the situation, 
and would not allow the occasion to pass without voicing 
their sentiments, recording their protest, and giving utter- 
ance to their sense of gratitude. The promptness and 
thoroughness with which the Carlisle congregation did 
this, gives evidence not only of an unswerving faith and 
trusting loyalty, but at the same time of a most commend- 
able zeal and high order of intelligence.* 



* There is a lurking suspicion in the mind of the writer that the following letter 
was drafted by Richard Dougherty, a typical Irish schoolmaster of the old school, 
who was famous in his day as a classical scholar of a high order, a brilliant raconteur, 
and an ambulating encyclopaedia of quaint and archaic lore. His limping walk and 
deftness in handling the birch are still vividly remembered by his old pupils— espe- 
cially the latter. 



182 

In the Carlisle American Volunteer * this card appeared 



i < 



Catholic Question." 



11 The members composing the Catholic Congregation of 
the borough of Carlisle are earnestly requested to meet at 
their place of worship, at two o'clock P. M., on Saturday, 
the 12th instant, for the purpose of expressing their public 
thanks to the Governor of the State, and the Representa- 
tives ot the people who had the official and constitutional 
fidelity and justice to protect the Rights of Conscience and 
Chartered Immunities, against the contemplated violation 
of religion, law, and the constitution of the land. 
[Signed] Cormick McManus, ^ 

Bernard Carney, V Trustees. 

Walter E. Erwin, J 
" Carlisle, April 2." 

The result of the meeting is given in the Volunteer of 
April 17th, and we will let the paper tell the rest : 

"The Meeting 

" Of the Catholic congregation of the borough of Carlisle, 
after having been organized by appointing Cormick 

* April 3, 1823. 



1 83 

McManus as chairman, and Richard Dougherty and John 
Faust as secretaries, unanimously adopted the following 
proceedings : 



u 



Preamble. 



u Cited by the above call, and in cheerful obedience to 
it, the Catholic congregation of this church have met, at 
the time and place assigned, for the grateful and meritor- 
ious purposes therein specified, and after a deliberate inter- 
change of opinions upon this serious and interesting sub- 
ject, it was unanimously recommended and acquiesced in, 
that a respectful letter of thanks be addressed to Joseph 
Hiester, Esq., Governor of Pennsylvania, for the firm, 
dignified, and liberal protection with which he shielded 
The Great Constitutional Question of Religious and Char- 
tered Rights, by his correct and comprehensive veto, upon 
the innovating, improvident, and unconstitutional bill, 
passed by both branches of the legislature of this State, 
to alter the charter of St. Mary's church of the city of 
Philadelphia — a bill sweeping into destruction at one and 
the same time, defined and specific contracts of laws and 
imprescriptible rights of conscience ; nor ought our grati- 
tude and religious feelings ever cease to embalm the mem- 
ory of those enlightened and faithful Representatives of 
both Houses, who virtuously combatted this monstrous bill 
in every step of its iniquitous march." 



1 84 



"letter of thanks.' ' 



To His Excellency, Joseph Hiester, Governor of Pennsyl- 
vania : 

Sir, — We all, thank God, live in a country and under 
laws which have put the mark of Cain upon two of the 
fell and impious instruments of the prince of darkness — 
Bigotry and Religious Intolerance. The furious fanatic 
may foam, and the fiery zealot rave, but their inability to 
injure has given to Persecution its death stab, and suspends 
it before the enlightened eye of mankind, as a hideous 
object of indignation, derision and scorn. Eternal thanks to 
the immortal revolutionary founders of \h\§ great Republic, 
for such celestial and transcendant blessings ! Here too, in 
this glorious land of religious toleration, the profligate 
libertine and the impious latitudinarian are chained down 
by the sublime and awful edicts of both National and State 
constitutions, from perpetrating an indiscriminate vandal- 
ism upon religious worship, and prostrating at their unholy 
feet, that filial and affectionate duty which piety owes to its 
canonical enactments. The principles, and professions, 
and practice of the Roman Catholic Faith, are immutable — 
universal — eternal — uniform all over the world, in every 
practice, of both its creed and discipline, never veering to 
the seductions or delusions of either fancy, infidelity, or 
caprice ; it is founded even in its most minute decrees and 
observances upon the acquiescence and allegiance, in every 



185 

age, of its holy, revered and illustrious professors, from the 
saint to the pilgrim, from the mitred head to the most 
humble, illiterate secular — from the prince to the beggar. 
A faith thus piously obedient and nobly consistent ; thus 
fixed and exact ; thus sublimely peculiar and singular in 
all its relations ; thus based upon Christian foundation, of 
nearly two thousand years' standing, and constitutionally 
protected in this Republic, to the very extent and pleni- 
tude of its exercise, should not be mocked or insulted, by 
any enactment of Legislative caprice, or infidel ribaldry ; 
should not be imposed upon the reckless and heartless 
innovation, of an unconstitutional and spoliating law, alter- 
ing the religious rights and charter of St. Mary's Church. 
L,et it not be said we are strangers, and no party to this 
unfortunately agitated question. It is a Catholic question, 
it is universal in its nature and an infringement and usur- 
pation upon the canonical institutions and ordinances of 
that faith, in whatever region from pole to pole, that this 
faith is professed. Accept, then, sir, we respectfully pray you, 
the sincere and grateful thanks of this meeting, for that 
magnanimity and firmness, with which you extinguished, 
by an honest and virtuous veto, the unconstitutional and 
violent bill passed to alter the charter of St. Mary's Church. 
And however honorably the constitution may have borne 
you out, in the judicious exercise of that high and whole- 
some power, with which it has wisely invested you, it 
would be an ungenerous and illiberal apathy on our part, 



i86 

and a frozen evidence of ntter insensibility, to view in 
silence, the bright and saving banner which you have 
displayed over the Security of Religious Exercise And The 
Inviolability Of Its Chartered Rights. And it only adds 
to the reputation of your firmness and official vigilance, 
that you have destroyed this licentious and demoralizing 
bill, at that important and responsible post, assigned to 
your care/ ere it reached the formidable barriers of the 
judiciary, where it would finally and inevitably perish 
beneath the austere and portentous frowns of that August 
Tribunal. 

u Signed in behalf of the meeting. 

CORMICK McMANUS, } 

Bernard Carney, > Trustees. 
Walter R. Erwin, J 

" Resolved, That the virtuous and enlightened Repre- 
sentatives of the Houses of the Legislature who opposed 
the bill, altering the charter of St. Mary's Church, receive 
the cordial thanks of this meeting for the zeal, fidelity 
and talents with which they defended religious rights and 
chartered compacts. 

"Resolved, That the meeting disclaim all intention of 
creating any political ferment, for party purposes, out of 
this subject, and earnestly recommend their Catholic 
brethren throughout the State to confer their votes, upon 
all occasions, upon merit, morals and qualifications only, 



i8 7 

and to be guided solely in the exercise of their suffrages by 
patriotic views and virtuous predilections. 

"Resolved, That these proceedings be published through- 
out the State by such editors of newspapers as are friendly 
to the cause of truth and justice. 

1 { Resolved, That the Trustees of this congregation for- 
ward these proceedings to the Governor and retain a copy 
of them in the archives of the church. 

Cormick McManus, Chairman. 

{Signed^ f ICHA * D DOUGHERTY, I SecretarieSm 

John Faust, J 

The open letter of the Carlisle and Lancaster congrega- 
tions, in giving expression to that feeling which every Cath- 
olic would have considered his bounden duty to express as a 
just appreciation of conduct on the part of Governor Hies- 
ter — a conduct that was more than diplomatic in being 
simply heroic, was wantonly misconstrued, ruthlessly 
dragged into the- political arena, and made the campaign 
of 1823, f° r Governor, more than customarily bitter and 
fierce. The contending parties were the Federalists and 
Democratic-Republicans. Hiester was a candidate for re- 
election, and aside of the dignified and brave standpoint 
he took in vetoing the bill above alluded to, was a man of 
brilliant attainments and unswerving honesty. His oppo- 
nent, Schulze, though his character could not be impugned 
— was the son of a Lutheran minister, and himself for six 



i88 

years followed the same avocation until physical disability 
made him exchange the clerical for a mercantile career. 
But what aroused the antagonism and indignation of Cath- 
olics, was his advocacy of the bill which the foregoing letter 
so scathingly denounces. 

The papers which at that time devoted nearly all their 
available space to politics, which was discussed with a 
vehemence and acerbity highly amusing to us of the 
present day, took up the matter, and for several weeks the 
" Catholic Question" was thoroughly ventilated. F. P. 
Schwarz, who was the editor of the Sunbury Enquirer, 
and a Catholic of very liberal tendencies, judging from his 
editorial utterances, precipitated matters by keeping alive 
this religio-political campaign. 

As usual in such cases where the Church is dragged into 
the heat of political discussion, — it was productive of heap- 
ing contumely on her, and subjecting its members to an in- 
cessant fusilade of invective,— whilst the political dema- 
gogues carried their ends. The Hiester-Schulze campaign 
however had aroused the Catholic mind to the iniquitous 
proceedings of the Philadelphia Trustees, to the inadequacy 
and danger of the entire Trustee system, and the disastrous 
results of antagonizing the centre of Catholic unity— author- 
ity. In bringing about this consummation the loyal faith, 
alert watchfulness and timely intervention of the con- 
gregations outside of Philadelphia, had not a little to 
do, and the fact that Carlisle was one of the first if not 



1 89 

the first to take the initiative, redounds not a little to its 
credit. 

At this date we cannot fail to take a pardonable pride in 
having an ancestry of such sterling faith, which had the 
grasp of mind to gauge the menacing features of the ques- 
tion, and had the intellectual qualifications to formulate a 
protest, the diction of which though it may appear some- 
what stilted, — conceals a clinching logic all the same, both 
comprehensive and irrefragable. 

The Hoganite Schism in due time came to an end. After 
eking out an adventurous and precarious existence for seven 
years, its impotent fight ceased, not, however, before Rome 
had on three several times condemned it, and many souls 
had been lost. Hogan left the church, — and was visited 
by summary punishment, swift and relentless, — he married 
two widows, — was lost from public notice, — and died in 
poverty and obscurity. 

The unfortunate struggle is to be deplored, — but it gave 
the deathblow to a most pernicious system. 



190 
CHAPTER XII. 

BUILDING OE THE CHURCH. — THE TRUSTEES COME TO COL- 
LISION. — THE CARNEY IMBROGLIO. —NEWSPAPER CON- 
TROVERSY.— CARNEY COLLECTS SUBSCRIPTIONS 
AND PEW RENTS BY LAW. — HE DIES OUT OF 
THE CHURCH. 

Since the erection of the old church in 1806, Catholicity 
had made considerable strides in ways and importance that 
augured most auspiciously for the future. The gain was 
not only in numerical strength, but also in social recogni- 
tion and solid prosperity. The members were daily becom- 
ing more imbued not only with the privileges of their 
citizenship, but also with that impulsive American pro- 
gressiveness — which already was a marvel to Europe. 
Endowed by nature with a robust constitution, inured to 
hardship from infancy, gifted with keen and sturdy honesty, 
the emigrant of years ago was gradually becoming no in- 
consequential factor in public life. This marked advance 
was felt and noticed in Carlisle. Already some of our 
prominent tradesmen and contractors were found among 
the Catholics,— and even the poor laboring men though 
still in a majority, in spite of the beggarly pittance they 
earned — three to four dollars a week, — were men who en- 
joyed the confidence and esteem of their employers. 

In 1822 we find thirty-nine pew holders crowded in the 
little church without adverting to the women, adults and 



I 9 I 

children of the congregation. How they ever gained even 
the merest admission, not to speak of accommodation is a 
problem, the solution of which taxed the minds of the 
Trustees as much then, as its contemplation puzzles us 
now. No doubt the renting of the pews was a mere formal 
proceeding to insure a suitable revenue, whilst the most 
liberal, communistic ideas prevailed as to their occupancy. 
The visits of the attending priest and his semi-monthly 
sojourn in their midst helped not only to increase the 
number of attendants at service, — but more than ever 
urged the necessity of enlarged accommodation. 

The first step in this direction, taken with evident hesi- 
tancy was voiced in the following memorandum in the 
u Church Records:'' 

" Sunday, July the 21st, 1822." 

" At a meeting of the members of the Roman Catholic 
Church of Carlisle, held on this day in said church, to 
take into consideration and adopt regulations for the Pro- 
vision of a Clergyman, and also to elect four Trustees for 
the ensuing year. — After the election of the Trustees, the 
following resolution was adopted as follows : 

" That two additional pews be erected in front of the 
existing ones at the expense of the congregation, and that 
the whole should be rented by the Trustees to the mem- 
bers, and the proceeds, with the rent of the house belonging 
to the Church to be given to the Revd. Mr. Dwen as his 
yearly salary, for his services as clergyman of said church. 



192 



c ' The Pews to consist of Twenty in number, the front 
Pews to rent for $13. a pair, the succeeding ones to fall 1 
dollar each, which will amount to $170., with the rent of 
the dwelling house in addition, which will be $26. , making 
in all the sum of $196. yearly. 
Trustees for the year, 



\_Stgned.~\ 



Cormick McManus 
Bernard Carney, 
Wm. Cramor, 
Walter R. Erwin." 
The pew holders in 1822 who were to pay their rent 

quarterly to the Trustees, who in turn handed it over to 

Father Dwen, were the following: 



Right Aisle 
Walter R. Erwin 
John Gillen 
Patrick Philips 
Patrick McGuire 
Cormick McManus 
John Faust 
N. Gingly 
Peter Black 
Miss Inders 
John Monks 
Michael Dawson 
Peter Gilmore 
Lewis Rancilear 
Thompson Brown 
Patrick Smith 
Patrick McManus 
Charles McManus 
Patrick McAuly 
Richard Dougherty 
Dominick Corny 
Joseph Smith 
John Higgins 



Left Aisle 
Bernard Carney 
Francis McManus 
Edward Higgins 
Patrick Derson (Dawson) 
Mr. Waters 
Hugh McCormick 
James Mclntire 
Mr, Sigler 
Mr. Cramor 
Patrick Boyle 
Michael Boyle 
Edward Friel 
Ch. Callaughan 
John Carney 
Ed. McLeary 
Edward White 



193 

The additional two pews were totally inadequate to sup- 
ply the demand for seats, — a cry that became more 
clamorous — the longer Father Dwen exercised his minis- 
try in the parish. No doubt what seemed to the Trustees 
a most formidable undertaking, was to him a crying neces- 
sity, when he saw the crowded condition of the church 
and had to officiate in a suffocatingly contracted little 
room. The venture to enlarge the church was fully dis- 
cussed during the following winter and only one of two 
remedies seemed adequate to a proper solution, and that 
was either a new or an enlarged Church. The latter was 
decided upon, as the following advertising card in the 
Carlisle paper* bears witness : — 

" NOTICE" 

"To Carpenters, Bricklayers and Plasterers. 

" Sealed proposals will be received by the Trustees of 
the Roman Catholic Church, Carlisle, for the erecting of 
an additional building to the present church, of 58 ft. by 
30, and 21 ft. high to the square. Those wishing to take 
on the work, can see the plan of said building by call- 
ing on 

Barney Carney, >v 

\Signed.~\ Cormick McManus, \ Trustees. 

Walter R. Erwin, J 



* American Volunteer, March 16, 1823. 



i 9 4 

" Those intending to contract for said work will send in 
their Proposals on the 17th of March at the hour of 10 
o'clock in the forenoon, at the Union Hotel, where the 
Trustees will attend for that purpose." 

The work begun under such favorable circumstances was 
not only doomed to more than a year's delay, — but was the 
origin of what, for want of a better name, we may call the 
Carney imbroglio. Trustees, with the onerous responsibil- 
ities of governing the Church, like the redoubtable speci- 
mens above alluded to, were no doubt duly impressed with 
the importance of their office — but when it came to internal 
friction and strife, one would think that policy would 
prompt them, from personal if not religious motives, to 
maintain harmony by amicably adjusting their difficulties 
and burying their resentments, and above all to avoid the 
scandal of making public exhibitions of their grievances 
and misunderstandings. Unfortunately our Trustees 
rushed into print, made their quarrels common property, 
and most effectually, for the time being at least, put a sum- 
mary stop to the work on the incomplete church. It took 
nearly three years to accomplish what, with unity of action 
under skillful guidance, could have been done in six 
months. Not to allude to the scandal and disaster this dif- 
ficulty caused in the congregation, it shook the confidence 
of non-Catholic benefactors. The only feature worthy of 
some consideration in this quarrel was that its ventilation 
in the public prints enables the narrative of the annex 



195 

building to be accurately given, — for the Church Records 
give us not a scintilla of information about the affair. 

The story runs that Barney Carney, one of the supplanted 
Trustees, for at the annual election new ones had been 
elected, was either improvident or dishonest in handling 
the church funds. It is not our province to sift the con- 
flicting and meagre evidence. The newly elected Trustees, 
upon their accession, discovered the supposed discrepancy, 
and demanded books, receipts, bills, etc., from Carney. His 
refusal, and the fact that he was no longer a member of 
the Board of Trustees, prompted them to issue the follow- 
ing advertisement :* 

" TAKE NOTICE. 

" All persons who have subscribed money to the Trustees 
of the Roman Catholic Church of the borough of Carlisle, 
either here or elsewhere, are requested not to pay it to Ber- 
nard Carney, or any person else without the authority of 
the undersigned Trustees of said church. In testimony 
whereof we hereunto subscribe our names, this 16th day of 
February, 1824. 

John Giixen, 
[Signed.] Edward Hagan, y Trustees. 

Peter Gilmore, 

*Amerlcan Volunteer, February 19, 1824. 



196 

Thus challenged, Carney had but two alternatives to 
protect his impugned honesty,— either by seeking redress 
at law, or availing himself of a public vindication in the 
newspaper. He did the latter — and for more than 
six consecutive issues (weekly) of the Volunteer, imme- 
diately below the above notice, stands Carney's counter- 
blast : 

" To all that subscribed towards the erectioyi of an addi- 
tional building to the Roman Catholic Church of 
Carlisle : 

11 The present Trustees of said church, having thought 
proper, in an advertisement, to request said subscribers not 
to pay me their subscriptions ; I therefore inform said sub- 
scribers, and particularly request, that they pay no money 
or moneys to the present Trustees, as the subscription book 
has been transferred to me for collection. I have con- 
tracted for the building for the sum of $1,450, and the only 
security I have for said sum is the subscription book, the 
monev subscribed in which I must collect mvself. I have 
expended on said building $115.75^ more than I have col- 
lected, which appeared on settlement, and was acknowl- 
edged by said Trustees. I therefore protest against the pub- 
lication made by them. I submit the statement made, 
acknowledged and attested by Isaac Todd, Esq., and John 
Higgins. 



197 

"Amoui iture in favor of the Catholic Church 

in Carlisle by B 



Amount e led . . . #765.38 

Do. received by collection . 652.70 

Balance due Carney . . . 112.63 

ary expenses on settlement 3. 13 j£ 



1 1 



1 1 

a > 



[Signed.-] "Edward H, 



John Gil 



" Attest, John Higgins, 
Isaac Todd. 



11 In addition to the above sum, I am responsible for the 
payment of several hundred dollars. 

[Signed.] "Bar::ev Carney. 

" February 19, 1824. " 

The struggle waxed warm, — but the congregation in- 
clined more to sustain the Tru than to vindicate 
Carney. The Trustees made an effort to collect some of 
the outstanding subscriptions, but as soon as Carney had 
an intimation of it, he had the following notice inserted 
in the Volunteer." 

* April 15, 1824. 



198 

" NOTICE . 

" All persons who have subscribed towards the erection 
of the additional building of the Roman Catholic Church 
of Carlisle, are requested to pay me the amount of their 
subscriptions on Friday the 30th of April. I will attend 
at the house of John Stockdale in the borough of Carlisle, 
said day, from ten till twelve o'clock in the forenoon, and 
from two till four five o'clock in the afternoon, to receive 
payment. Those who do not comply with this request, 
will without respect of persons, be dealt with as the law 
directs, as I am the only person authorized to receive the 
same." 

[Signed.] " Barney Carney. 

" April 14, 1824." 

This was no idle threat — for Carney was both impulsive 
and obstinate, and two days later promptly instituted suit 
against James Boyle and Michael Dawson, in the former 
case for a $5.00 subscription and a $3.00 order, in the 
latter case for $1.12% pew rent and an $8.00 subscription. 
He entered judgment, which they waived, on the plea of 
insolvency — and he actually had them put to jail under the 
debtors'* act. 

The case appealed, the Court sustained Carney, and 
again* affairs assumed a most alarming attitude. 

* See nos. 284, 285 286, April Term, 1824, C P. Cumberland Co. 



i 9 9 

The pacific overtures of Father Dwen, and the concilia- 
tory action of the old Trustees, headed by the prudent 
Cormick McManus, averted a calamity which might have 
resulted in irreparable spiritual harm. As it was, it re- 
tarded the work on the Church, closed the channels of 
charity, fomented discord, and was unquestionably the 
source of grave scandal. 

As a final means of adjusting the difficulties it was con- 
cluded to submit them to the arbitration of some disin- 
terested persons, — and consider the adjudication final. 
This was done by mutual consent, and an opinion un- 
favorable to Carney handed in. Exasperated beyond en- 
durance Carney came out with the following manifesto :* 

u TO THE PUBLICK. 

" It is with regret, I feel bound in vindication of myself, 
to publish my protest against the decision or the arbitra- 
tors in the case of myself against Cormick McManus and 
Walter R. Erwin, former trustees of the Roman Catholic 
Church in Carlisle, published in the Carlisle Herald and 
Gazette. All I will say for the present is, I consider my- 
self ungenerously and dishonorably dealt with, which I will 
make appear to the satisfaction of the public very shortly. 
It is true I signed an article to abide by the decision of the 

* American Volunteer, June 20, 1824 



200 



arbitrators appointed to settle the amount of moneys re- 
ceived and paid by me, on account of the Roman Catholic 
Church, but, there was not a word in said article nor did 
it come before the arbitrators, that I was to give up the 
building and receive nothing for a whole summer's attend- 
ance and lost time. It is therefore my intention to have 
justice done me fairly ; in doing so, the public will be the 
better acquainted with the treatment I have received from 
a set of fellows, who are well known for their deficiency 
and want of common sense and decency." 

[Signed.] " Barney Carney' } 

" Carlisle. June 22, 1824." 

Carney may have found some justification in a destruct- 
ive agitation, which from a Catholic standpoint seems not 
only unwarrantable, but more worthy of censuie than sym- 
pathy. The little Catholicity he had, was unfortunately 
superficial and feeble and proved unavailing in coping 
with his impulsive obstinacy. Apostasy seemed the inevi- 
table doom of the arrogant Trustee at that time, nor was 
Carney to be an exemption. In 1825 his name no longer 
appears on the list of pew holders, — he drifted further and 
further from the moorings of his childhood's faith until he 
wound up his career by refusing priestly ministrations in 
his dying moments. He died in 1859, and lies buried in 
the Old (Protestant) Cemetery. 

Under the new Trustees, with restored confidence es- 



201 



tablished, the work of completing the Church was pushed 
forward as vigorously as the untoward circumstances and 
limited financial resources would permit. The contract 
for the annex was awarded on St. Patrick's Day, 1823, — 
but it was not until July, 1825 that it was completed. The 
Trustees, to keep the public informed of its transactions, 
especially since it had been so generously helpful in con- 
tributing to the improvements, had the event announced 
in the paper* in this characteristic fashion : 

. "TO THE PUBLIC. 

"With feelings of gratitude and satisfaction we an- 
nounce to the public that the addition of sixty feet by 
thirty, to the Catholic Church of this borough, which was 
commenced a considerable time back, is now finished, and 
that the Church, hitherto entirely too small, is now suffi- 
ciently spacious, and calculated to admit of Divine Worship 
being performed in it, with decency and solemnity, which 
the occasion requires. This we consider our duty to make 
known to the public in general and to the inhabitants of 
this borough and its vicinity, in particular ; as it is to their 
generous contributions it is generally indebted for its pre- 
sent prosperous state. Its representatives think the best 
way to express their gratitude to all its benefactors is, to 

* Amer. Volunteer, July 14, 1825. 



202 

inform them that its doors shall be open to all denomina- 
tions of Christians who may think proper, at any time, to 
visit it, and conduct themselves while there as Christians. 

" N. B. — The Pews will be rented on the 7th of August 
next, when all those (with no exception of persons) who 
wish to secure to themselves a right to a seat, will please 
attend at the church.'' 

Carlisle, iith July, 1825. 
[Signed.] " Trustees." 

As mentioned above, the church was dedicated in August 
by Bishop Con well, assisted by Rev. B. Keenan, Lancaster, 
Rev. Father Dwen, and probably some of the Conewago 
Fathers. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

CARLISLE IN THE STRUGGLE FOR CATHOLIC EMANCIPA- 
TION.— ORGANIZATION OF THE " CATHOLIC ASSOCIA- 
TION OF IRELAND." — PROTESTANTS GENEROUS 
AND ENTHUSIASTIC IN THE CAUSE.™ DANIEL 
O'CONNELL PROPOSES THEM AS MEM- 
BERS OF THE ASSOCIATION. — THE 
CORRESPONDENCE GIVEN. 

When Daniel O'Connell inaugurated his memorable fight 
for Catholic Emancipation in 1800, — he had such an in- 
stinctive aversion to the violent revolutionary spirit of that 



203 



period, that his well-known saying, " he would accept of no 
social amelioration at the cost of a single drop of blood, " 
was looked upon as the mere utterance of a political vision- 
ary. Yet from 1822 to 1829 there was a fierce though 
bloodless battle waged in " old Ireland," one which tried 
the hearts of Irishmen as much as those who fought at 
Limerick or Fontenoy. The struggle was gallant, the 
victory brilliant. Years of harrowing care and persistent 
disappointment convinced O'Connell that the battle must 
be a bloodless one, one in which the justice of the cause 
must be brought strongly and convincingly before the heart 
of humanity,— one that must enlist the sympathy and aid 
of every lover of justice and liberty. In 1828 the agita- 
tion for Catholic Emancipation reached the culminating 
point under the persistent and well-directed labors of the 
Catholic Association, called into life by O'Connell, with 
ramifications throughout the civilized Christian world. 
Ireland itself during this time was in a state of seething 
ferment. It was in June of 1828 that O'Connell, elected 
by an overwhelming majority to Parliament from County 
Clare, refused to take the Test oath, which was framed to 
exclude Catholics from office. Under his magnificent and 
inspiring generalship Catholic Emancipation was wrung 
from the reluctant Government. In his gigantic labors the 
Agitator was finally so successful that the Conservatives, 
led by such men as Sir Robert Peel and the Duke of Wel- 
lington, conceded emancipation on February 6, 1829. 



204 

The eyes of the world centered on Ireland during this 
epoch-making struggle. The heart of every Irishman went 
out to his far-off home from whence persecution and pov- 
erty had exiled him, and now that the fruits of liberty were 
within sight, within grasp, — he would contribute his share 
in hastening the blessed hour. 

Carlisle, as usual, was one of the first inland towns to 
take the initiative in joining the Catholic Association, — 
the potent factor that became an engine of so much happi- 
ness to Ireland. It did not wait to take its cue from larger 
cities, but, fired with the patriotism of its Irish citizens, it 
modestly but none the less generously sent its contribution 
to Ireland, and had the supreme satisfaction of not only re- 
ceiving personal testimonials of appreciation from the great 
Agitator, by himself proposing them as members of the 
Catholic Association, but of seeing Emancipation granted. 
In this effort it will be noticed that creed or church affilia- 
tion are set aside, that the Catholic priest and Protestant 
lawyer meet on the same platform of equality, and that all 
of them contribute cheerfully to a cause so dear to their 
hearts, — and one so characteristic of their nationality. 

But we will let the newspaper files tell the interesting 
and touching story : 

In the American Volunteer* we find the subjoined notice 
in the advertising column : 

* February 27, 1828. 



205 

" CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. 

"The citizens of Carlisle and its vicinity who may be 
desirous of promoting the object of i The New Catholic 
Association of Ireland/ which is composed of Christians of 
every denomination, are requested to meet at the house of 
James Bell, Esq., to-morrow (Friday) evening at 6 
o'clock." 

" MEETING IN CARLISLE, PA., 

" Of the friends of the 'New Catholic Association of Ire- 
land,' February 8, 1828. 

4 4 In pursuance of public notice a number of persons, 
friendly to the new Catholic Association of Ireland, assem- 
bled on Friday evening, the 8th instant, at the hotel of Mr- 
James Bell, in the borough of Carlisle. 

u On motion, Mr. James Divin (a Protestant) was called 
to the chair, and Rev. Patrick J. Dwen appointed secre- 
tary. 

u The meeting being thus organized, on motion of Mr. 
John Taylor the following circular was read by the secre- 
tary : 

" ' Sir : Knowing you to be deeply interested in every- 
thing connected with the prosperity of Ireland, we take the 
liberty of soliciting your countenance to the 'New Catholic 
Association of Ireland,' a sketch of whose object will be 
seen below.' " 

\_Stgned.~\ " P. Kkogh, Chairman. 

"James Gowkn, Secretary." 



2o6 

44 Philadelphia, January 4th, 1828. 

44 Primary objects of the New Catholic Association ot 
Ireland, which is composed of Christians of all denom- 
inations, 

44 1. To diffuse a liberal and enlightened system of edu- 
cation throughout Ireland. 

4 4 2. To extend Irish commerce. 

44 3. To promote Irish agriculture. 

44 4. To encourage the consumption of Irish manufac- 
tures. 

4 4 5. To encourage, as much as possible, a free and en- 
lightened press, to circulate works calculated to promote 
just principles, mutual toleration and kindness. 

44 6. To preserve the purity of elections in Ireland, espe- 
cially by supporting the forty-shilling freeholders in the 
maintenance of their just rights. 

41 7. To devise means of erecting in Ireland suitable 
churches for the celebration of Divine Worship and to pro- 
cure and establish burial grounds wherein the dead may 
be interred without being liable to any species of insult or 
contumely. 



207 

" 8. To ascertain the number of the population of Ireland, 
the proportion of Catholics and Protestants, and the num- 
ber of children of each in a course of education. 

" Its principal aim is Universal Emancipation. 

"l^To constitute membership, one pound, Irish cur- 
rency (according to the present rate of exchange about $5) 
must be paid on admission. 

"Any sum, however small, may nevertheless be contrib- 
uted towards the funds of the association. 

" The following gentlemen are appointed Treasurers, to 
whom the collecting committees are to pay over the moneys 
collected, and who are to send the same and the contribu- 
tors' names to Ireland : General Robert Patterson, General 
William Duncan, Silas E. Wier, William J. Duane, Joseph 
M. Doran. 

" Mr. Taylor then rose and offered the following pre- 
amble and resolutions : 

"Whereas, This meeting looks with great confidence to 
the ' New Catholic Association of Ireland,' and believes its 
object to be truly philanthropic and humane, and if liber- 
ally assisted, as it should be by every lover of freedom, and 
every comforter of the afflicted, would redound much to the 
tranquillity and happiness of that oppressed country ; but 
perfectly aware how unavailing will be its efforts without 
sufficient funds to enable it to carry its patriotic views into 
effect ; and knowing it to be, in the present state of affairs, 



208 

totally inadequate to the accomplishment of its multifarious 
objects, therefore, 

"i. Resolved, That to encourage said association to 
persevere in its great and laudable undertakings, a com- 
mittee of eight persons, two for each ward in the borough, 
be appointed to collect the names, places of residence and 
subscriptions of those gentlemen in Carlisle and its vicin- 
ity who may be desirous of becoming members of the asso- 
ciation. 

( ' 2. Resolved, That a treasurer be appointed into whose 
hands shall be paid all the money which the collecting 
committee may receive, and whose duty it shall be to send 
the same, as soon as possible, together with the names, 
places of birth, and places of residence of the subscribers, 
to the treasurer of the Association in Philadelphia, request- 
ing them to forward the whole, together with the proceed- 
ings of this meeting, to the Treasurer of the Association in 
Ireland, by the first convenient opportunity. 

" 3. Resolved, That these proceedings be signed by the 
chairman and secretary, and be published in all the Carlisle 
papers. 

u The above preamble and resolutions were seconded and 
adopted, and the following gentlemen appointed to act as 
collecting committee : 



<< 



209 

" James Givin and Isaac B. Parker, Esq. (Protestants), 
for the N. W. ward ; Colonel Redmond Conyngham and 
John Taylor (Protestants), for the N. E. ward ; Dr. George 
D. Foulke and James Underwood, for the S. W. ward ; 
Cormick McManus (Catholic) and James Bredin (Protest- 
ant), for the S. E. ward. 

Isaac B. Parker, Esq. , was appointed treasurer. 
It was also agreed that the collecting committee have 
power to call a meeting of the subscribers whenever they 
may deem expedient. 

u On motion of General Robert McCoy, a subscription 
paper was opened, and several gentlemen became members 
of the association on the spot by complying with the con- 
ditions, as stated in the above circular. 

[Signed.'] u James Givin, Chairman. 

" Patrick J. Dwkn, Secretary." 

The ward committees set to work with a determination 
to make an active and thorough canvass, and though cer- 
tain features dwelt upon by the association did not find 
favor in the eyes of some, still the appeal was so manly, 
the men interested so zealous, and the object so instinc- 
tively dear to the American heart, that the result was a 
flattering one. Contributions under five dollars were not 
acknowledged, and from this we can conclude that a gen- 
erous response on the part of the poorer classes added ma- 
terially to the success of the enterprise. It is safe to state 



2IO 

that probably not one Catholic was unrepresented in that 
collection. But we again will let the newspaper files* nar- 
rate the details : 

"THE CAUSE OF IRELAND. 

" Ajjghinbach's Inn, Carlisle, Pknn. 

"Sept. 13th, 1828. 

" In pursuance of a notice a number of those who con- 
tributed to the fund of the ' New Catholic Association,' 
met this evening. James Givin, esq., was called to the 
chair and Revd. P. J. Dwen appointed secretary. 

" Isaac B. Parker, esq., Treasurer of the funds collected 
in this place submitted the following statement, which 
was unanimously adopted, and ordered to be published, 
together with the contributors' names. 

" Isaac B. Parker, in account with the contributors to 
the l New Catholic Association of Ireland ' in Carlisle. 
1 To cash received from subscribers from the 9th of 

February till the 14th of March, 1828 . $100.00 
" Balance due Treasurer . .25 



$100.25 



* American Volunteer, November 6, 1828. 



211 



" March 17th 1828. By cash remitted to Joseph M, 
Doran, esq. , as per receipt . . . $100.00 
" By cash for postage ... .25 






E.E. I. B. Parker $100.25 

Sept. 18th, 1828. 



11 Read and approved 13th September, 1828. 

[Signed.'] " Jamks Givin, Chairman." 

" Test. P. J. Dwen, Secy." 

"Names of contributors copied from Dublin Weekly 
Register" now in our possession : Rev. P. J. Dwen, Gen. 
Rober McCoy, Isaac B. Parker, esq., James Givin, George 
D. Foulke, M.D., Cormick McManus, Crawford Foster, 
Jacob Faust, George Smith, Jr., Gad Day, Samuel Mc- 
Cosky esq., David S. Forney, Robert Snodgrass, John 
Gillen, John Clark, John Taylor, Redmond Conyngham, 
James Kernan, (Franklin County), Richard Dougherty, 
Hugh Gaullaugher, esq., George A. Lyon, esq., James 
Bredin, Benjamin Stiles, Jacob Bishop, John Irwin, 
William Irvine, esq., Jacob Hendel, esq., Seawright Ram- 
sey, esq., George Metzger, esq., Thomas Hennessy, John 
Philips, esq., Geo. L,eas, Andrew Carothers. 

" The following correspondence, in possession of Mr. 
John Taylor, was read by him, and ordered by the meeting 
to be published as a part of its proceedings, viz : 



212 



M Carlisle, March 14th, 1828. 

"Dr. Sir: In conformity with instructions received 
from Mr. Joseph M. Doran, of your city, I have the pleas- 
ure to forward you herewith a draft for One Hundred 
Dollars, payable to your order, contributed by the " friends 
of the New Catholic Association of Ireland " residing in 
Carlisle, Pennsylvania, with a request that their mite be 
added to the funds of that benevolent and praiseworthy 
association. You will have the goodness to acknowledge 
the enclosed, and to inform me whether a more particular 
designation than that herein noted, will be hereafter neces- 
sary to be transmitted to you. I have some small hopes 
that a farther subscription may be obtained. 

" Your obedient & humble servant, 
{Signed.] "I. B. Parker." 

" Turner Camac, esq." 

" Philadelphia, March 17th, 1828. 
" Dear Sir : I am requested by Mr. Carmac to acknowl- 
edge his receipt of your letter of the 14th inst. enclosing a 
draft for $100, being the amount contributed by the friends 
of the New Catholic Association of Ireland, residing in 
Carlisle and vicinity towards the funds of that society. 
He begs me to return to the citizens of your borough, 
through your medium, the thanks of the friends of Ireland 
of this city, for the ardent and substantial manner in which 
the former have thus generously expressed their devotion 



213 

to the interests of that unhappy country, and to assure 
them that the money will be immediately transmitted to 
Ireland. The description of the contributors is sufficiently 
precise. 

11 Respectfully yours, 
[Signed.] " Joseph M. Doran." 

" Isaac B. Parker, esq." 

First remittance to Ireland. Copy of a letter sent to 
Daniel O'Connell, Esq. 

" Philadelphia, June 23rd, 1828. 

" Dear Sir : On behalf, and by direction of the persons 
whose names, birthplaces and residences, are mentioned 
below, we have the honor of transmitting to you, for the 
4 New Catholic Association of Ireland,' for all purposes 
prohibited by law, a Bill of Exchange for i&z£. 8s. 8d. 
upon London, payable to your order sixty days after sight, 
dated June 23, 1828 etc., being the net amount of their 
contributions towards its funds, after deducting expense, 
etc. 

4 i The contributors, deeply interested as they are in every- 
thing connected with the welfare of Ireland, are convinced, 
after an attentive observation of the progress of affairs in 
that country for some time past, that the New Catholic 
Association is eminently calculated to promote its prosper- 
ity and richly merits the countenance and support, not 
only of every Irishman, but also of every individual 



214 

throughout the world, who desires the melioration of a 
condition of a very large portion of his fellow-creatures. 
Under this conviction, sir, and without intending in any 
wise to interfere with the politics of Ireland, further than 
these, the expression of their feelings and opinions, they 
have made their contributions ; and there are thousands of 
others in the United States, who are so disposed and will 
shortly do the same. One feature — an admirable feature — 
in the Catholic Association, has not escaped the eye of the 
people of this country, and indeed, has induced many who 
are not of the Roman Catholic persuasion to become its 
contributors l that it is composed of persons of every religi- 
ous denomination, and it is not deiigned to give benefits 
and advantages to one sect at the expense of the rest ; but 
is substantially, and in fact, in its object and in its views, 
Catholic, — in the true sense of the word.' Be assured, the 
society will have nothing to fear from its enemies, as long 
as the liberal work shall be impressed upon its front. 

11 Perhaps it may be proper to remark, that these contri- 
butions are by no means to be regarded as emanating from 
a body or society, they proceed from persons acting entirely 
as individuals, without the consent or connection with 
each other ; and ihould it not be contrary to the rules of 
the association, it would be gratifying to them to be ad- 
mitted members for one year, provided that no further 
payment should be required of them. 

u Permit us now in the name of the Irish and their 



215 

descendants in the state of Pennsylvania, and for ourselves 
to heartily thank you, and through you Shiel, and your 
illustrious friends, for the noble stand you and they have 
taken for the cause of persecuted Ireland. 

" We remain with great respect, sir, your most obedient 
and humble servants. 

[Signed.] " Turner Carmac. 

Joseph M. Doran." 
Daniel O'Conneix, Esq , Dublin." 



i i 



On the 19th of July, 1828, upwards of one hundred 
and fifteen gentlemen of Philadelphia and Carlisle (whose 
names, birthplaces and residences were subsequently in- 
serted in the Dublin papers) were on motion of Daniel 
O'Connell, Esq., seconded by Sir Francis McDonnell, ad- 
mitted members of the "Catholic Association of Ireland." 

The following resolution was then unanimously adopted, 
viz. : 

" Resolved, That the thanks of the meeting be tendered 
to Isaac B. Parker, Esq., for his faithful and punctual 
attention to the business intrusted to his care at our 
former meeting. 

[Signed.] u James Givin, Chairman." 

"P. J. Dwen, Sec'y." 




FACSIMILE OF MEMBERSHIP CARD OF CATHOLIC ASSOCIATION OF IRELAND. 



FEB 10 1902 



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